4 



£v G G S 



n 



FACTS 



AND FANCIES ABOUT THEM 



COMPILED BY 



ANNA 'BARROWS 



" Omne vivum ex ovo" 



rU 89 h 

BOSTON 
D LOTHROP COMPANY 

WASHINGTON STREET OPPOSITE BROMFIELD 




xS 



Copyright, 1890^ 

BY 

D. Lothrop Company. 



iPress of 

Berwick & Sbmittj, 
Boston. 



A^f 









PREFACE. 

IIS book has been compiled with a twofold object : 
to increase the use of eggs as food, and thus 
increase their production. 

No other article of food is suitable alike for old and 
young, for rich and poor, for epicures and ascetics, for 
athletes and invalids. 

Believing that a greater use of eggs as food can best 
be brought about by a knowledge of their composition and 
the principles of cookery, the compiler has, by careful 
classification, tried to diminish rather than to multiply reci- 
pes and yet present such variations that any housekeeper 
may adapt each method to the materials already at hand. 

Few employments are better suited to women with 
small capital, either of money or physical strength, than 
the raising of eggs for market. 

The preparation of eggs for food, especially in cakes 
and desserts, is also a remunerative business for women. 

Small flocks of poultry are usually more successful than 
large ones. 

This work can be carried on at home, and proves a great 
economy of the household waste. 

" Out of bugs and worms and seeds, and what it can 
pick and scratch from the waste of Nature's laboratory, 
the hen produces the fair white egg — one of the most 
delicious morsels to the human palate, one which fills the 
heart of man with loving-kindness." 

In the words of a writer two hundred and fifty years 
ago : 

" Believe, dear friend, that no alchemist ever produced 
from furnace or alembic, so rare a treasure as you may 
obtain from your hens, if you only know how to combine 
labor and delight." 



PBEFACE. 



Among the books examined in the arrangement of this 
little work are encyclopaedias, general and specific, chem- 
istry and other books relating to foods, as well as a large 
number of cook books. The most helpful, however, have 
been "The Chemistry of Cooking," by W. M. Williams, 
"Foods," by Edward Smith, M. D., " The Franco-Amer- 
ican Cookery Book," " The Modern Householder," by T. 
J. Murrey, "How to Cook and Serve Eggs," by G. Hill, 
[published in England in 1867], "All About Eggs" [pub- 
lished in Chicago by Victor Palmer], and books on cook- 
ery by Mrs. Lincoln, Miss Corson, Miss Parloa, Marion 
Harland, Helen Campbell and others. 



EGGS 




NAME AND SHAPE. 

?HE egg is one of the few things in 
the world original and positive in 
itself. Though some specimens are 
round and some oblong, the usual 

shape cannot be described by words applicable 

to other objects. 

The egg is oval; that is, egg-shaped, since that 
word is derived directly from the Latin name 
for the egg — ovum. 

Not only does the egg name itself, but it gives 
rise to words descriptive of other objects. 

Ovum may have been derived from the Latin 
avis, a bird. From this root come the words 
oval, ovary, ovate, ovolo, ovule, etc. 

The Greek word meaning egg was <b6v ; and 
from this comes oology, etc. The same word 
was sometimes used to describe a bald head. 

7 



NAME AND SHAPE. 



Tennyson uses the simile, " bald as an egg." 

From the Anglo-Saxon oeg comes the word 
we use to-day. Chaucer and other early writers 
use the forms ey, eg, egge. 

The verb to egg, meaning to incite, is now 
nearly obsolete. 

" Thou should'st be prancing on thy steed 
To egg thy soldiers forward in thy wars." 

The egg and dart, egg and tongue, egg and 
anchor, are ornaments for the ovolo molding in 
architecture. 

Egg-shell china is so-called from its extreme 
delicacy. The egg-plant is named from the 
shape of its fruit. 

Nest eggs and bad eggs are phrases often 
used metaphorically. 

The size of the egg has long been a standard 
of measure, and its specific gravity a test for 
solutions. 



NAME AND SHAPE. 



The first watches were egg-shaped, and, from 
their origin in that city, were called Nuremberg 
animated eggs. 

The new Century dictionary gives more than 
fifty derivations and compounds of the word 
egg- 

" Nature is very skillful ; we don't take half 
as many hints from her as we might. Do you 
observe these eggs all of one color — those deli- 
cate blues — these exquisite drabs ? If you 
ever wish to paint a room, take one of these 
eggs for a model, and you will arrive at such 
tints as no painter ever imagined out of his own 
head, I know." 

Chas. Reade. 

The nine thousand varieties of known birds 
furnish every shade of color in eggs. This is a 
device of Nature for their protection. Birds 
whose nests are covered lay white eggs, while in 
open nests in fields or on the sand the eggs are 
colored like surrounding objects. 

The surface of the shell may be rough or 



10 NAME AND SHAPE. 

smooth as if polished. Eggs of some sea-birds 
are covered with a glutinous substance to pre- 
vent their slipping off the sand or rocks. 

" On few things have so much beauty been 
lavished. Just peep in any lane or brake, in 
spring, into a bird's nest, and lying cosily in 
their mossy couch you will behold a number of 
mysterious spheres, every one of them with 
life within, but externally smooth and brilliant 
as a gem, penciled with delicate lines, flecked 
with lapis lazuli or ruby, clouded, streaked, 
furnished with thousands of invisible pores, 
through which the air penetrates to the im- 
prisoned bird, to hasten its development and 
co-operate with animal heat in imparting to it 
all the mysterious powers of organization and 
vitality." 

" Considering one of these marvels from our 
view we should think it something to last for- 
ever, while it is only for a few days. 

Pierce the shell and we find a matrix white, 
thin and delicate as the petals of a flower, to 
protect it from the shell. 



NAME AND SHAPE. 



11 



Then follows the mighty process of matter 
quickening into life, the metamorphosis of these 
fluids into bones, flesh, feathers, talons, heart 
and brain with the machinery of voice, instinct, 
affection, emotion, whether in the ostrich or the 
humming-bird no larger than a pea." 

Chamber 8 Journal. 




12 



MYTHOLOGY. 



MYTHOLOGY. 




EW articles of common life have fig- 
ured as largely in history and fable 
f ^ as the egg. 

The proverb " Omne Vivum ex 
Ovo" is the basis of the religious belief of many 
Eastern nations. 

The formation of the world from chaos was 
well compared to the development of the chicken 
from the egg. 

The mundane or universal egg may be traced 
in all mythology. Under various forms the 
same legend appears, namely : that on the 
waste of waters a mighty bird deposited an egg 
from which the earth was evolved. 

In his " Histoire Religieuse du Calendrier " 
[Paris, 1776], the learned M. Court de Gebelin 
gives many of these legends. 

Here it is only possible to give a condensed 
translation from this quaint old French book. 



MYTHOLOGY. 13 



" In the philosophy and theology of the 
Egyptians, Persians, Gauls, Greeks and Romans 
the egg was the emblem of the universe, the 
work of the Supreme Deity. 

The Egyptian divinity, Kneph or Emeph — a 
word in their language meaning good or benevo- 
lent — is painted in the human form to indicate 
his intelligence ; androgynous, to signify his 
absolute independence, having on his head a 
butterfly to designate his activity, and with an 
egg issuing from his mouth to prove his fertility. 

From the egg proceeded Phthah, or the Fire, 
from whom the Greeks derive their Vulcan. 
To this divinity was addressed the famous in- 
scription on the Temple of Sais, ending with 
these words — 

6 The fruit which I have produced is the Sun/ 

According to Orpheus, who carried this doc- 
trine into Greece, there first existed the immense, 
eternal chaos from which all things were to be 
produced. 

It was neither light nor shade, damp nor dry, 
warm nor cold, but all together — and had the 
form of an immense egg. 



14 MYTHOLOGY. 



It was the origin of all things, and began by 
the separation of the four elements, from two of 
which the heavens are formed and from the 
others the earth, and by the participation of 
these all beings are born. 

The spirit of God brooded upon the waters as 
the hen upon her egg. 

This egg becomes the base of a multitude of 
allegories revolting and absurd when they do 
not approach their model, but very ingenious 
when in the same key. Among these are the 
fables of the birth of Hercules ; the sons of 
Jove born from an egg — Castor and Pollux ; 
Venus born from the bosom of the waters ; 
Semiramis born from an egg cast up by the 
waters — and others." 

The Persians believed in two deities ; one born 
of light, the other of shade, who made war upon 
each other. 

The first produced twenty-four good spirits 
inclosed in an egg^ which was invaded by evil 
spirits proceeding from the other, and since that 
time good and evil have been mingled on earth. 
The Hindoos held the egg to be the source of 



MYTHOLOGY. 15 



all things, and therefore refrained from eat- 
ing it. 

The Mongolian races have a tradition that a 
mystic bird laid an egg on the bosom of one of 
their deities, there to be hatched. He let it 
fall into the water and it broke ; the upper part 
then became the sky, the lower the earth ; the 
liquid white formed the sun, the yolk the moon, 
and fragments of the shell became stars. 

The Egyptians saw in the egg an emblem of 
the restoration of mankind after the deluge, and 
venerated it accordingly. It often appears in 
their hieroglyphics. 

The egg and tongue of architecture is thought 
to be a relic of the head of Isis, representing a 
necklace of the mundane egg^ and the tongue of 
the serpent of immortality. 

The Jews found in the egg a symbol of bon- 
dage and wonderful deliverance, and used it as 
a type of their departure from Egypt, and it 
appeared on the Passover table. 

The modern Hebrews still use eggs at the 
Passover season, as an emblem of the rolling 
fate of Israel. 



16 . MYTHOLOGY. 



The peculiar shape of the dome of the Moham- 
medan mosques is regarded as a vestige of the 
early egg worship. 

Egg-shaped stones have been excavated in 
the ruins of many cities of the East. 

The Greeks and Romans adopted these theo- 
ries from the earlier nations. 

At one time in Greece, philosophers tried to 
keep people from eating eggs, since they con- 
tained all the elements of life. The shell repre- 
sented the earth ; the white, water ; the yolk, 
fire; air was found under the shell, and the 
germ of life it was a sin to destroy. 

Among the Romans eggs were used in the holy 
ceremonies of Bacchus, and in rites of expiation. 
Juvenal informs us that at the autumn equinox, 
to escape the ravages of that season, an offering 
of one hundred eggs was made. 

The worship of the egg gradually degenerated 
into the ceremonies of magicians, and the use 
of the egg^ even at the present day, among 
ignorant people, in various love charms and 
divinations, can thus be traced back to the 
mundane egg. 




SUPERSTITIONS. 17 



SUPERSTITIONS. 

"There's something strange about egg shells, 
That makes them proof against all spells." 

Tudor Jenks. 

IGGS, and especially their shells, have 
been thought potent aids in witch- 
craft. 

Irish and English nurses once in- 
structed children to push their spoons through 
the shell of an egg^ after eating its contents, 
" to keep the witches from making a boat of it." 
These lines from Beaumont and Fletcher 
show the common belief : 

" The devil should think of purchasing that egg- 
shell, 
To victual out a wife for the Bermoothus." 

(i. e. Bermudas.) 

Sir Thomas Browne tells us another reason 
for breaking the shells, lest the witches should 
draw or prick their names therein and thus 



18 SUPEBSTITIONS. 

injure the person who had partaken of the egg. 

Eggs laid on holy days were supposed to 
possess helpful qualities against all ills. 

In 1584, Reginald Scot says, " To hang an 
egg^ laid on Ascension Day, in the roof of a 
house preserveth the same from all hurts." 

Eggs produced on Good Friday were also 
kept, since they had power to extinguish any 
fire on which they might be thrown. 

The Netherlanders say that ague may be kept 
at a distance by eating on Easter Day two eggs 
laid on Good Friday. While in North Germany 
the shells are broken after the contents are 
eaten to keep away the same dread visitor. 

Dreaming of eggs is a prediction of trouble, 
though if the shells be broken when they 
appear the danger is averted. 

Scotch fishermen think it unluckj 7- to have 
eggs on board their boats, as they will bring 
contrary winds. 

In many parts of England eggs are not allowed 
to leave the house after sunset, for fear of ill 
luck, and to have them brought in would be 
equally disastrous. 




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SUPEBST1TI0NS. 19 



On Halloween, if the white of egg be dropped 
into any pure liquid, the shape it takes will 
indicate the future of the person trying the 
charm. 

A maiden anxious to see her future husband, 
spends the day of St. Agnes in silence and fast- 
ing, then takes the yolk from a hard-boiled egg, 
fills the cavity with salt and eats shell and all. 
After sundry incantations she may then count 
on seeing the desired one in her dreams. 

Hebrew mourners returning from the funeral 
sometimes partake of a hard-boiled egg^ sprinkled 
with ashes instead of salt. Probably this has 
reference to the resurrection. 



-^£ zs^r -^- -**" ■*■ -*.^-»~*:3 



20 EASTEB. 




EASTER. 

jjSIDE from their use as food eggs are 
connected with one of the great fes- 
tivals of the Christian church. 
From the earliest ages, all nations 
have celebrated the awakening of nature at the 
vernal equinox, and the day we know as Easter 
may be considered a combination of these fes- 
tivities with the Jewish Passover, but given a 
new significance by the risen Christ. 

The early church was divided on the question 
of the proper time for the observance of the 
resurrection, and the matter was not decided 
until A. D. 325 at the Nicene Council. The 
settlement of the controversy was one of the 
questions which led Constantine to call the 
council : " That everywhere the great feast of 
Easter should be observed upon one and the 
same day, and that not the day, of the Jewish 
Passover, but as had been generally observed, 
upon the Sunday afterward." 



■III! 




EASTEB. 21 



The date may be as early as March 22, or as 
late as April 25. It is the first Sunday follow- 
ing the full moon, which appears on or after 
March 21. 

The word Easter may have been derived 
from the same root as east, and applied to this 
season of the year which was proverbially angry 
and stormy.* Another probable source of the 
word is Ostara or Eoestre, the name of an 
Anglo-Saxon goddess — corresponding to the 
Latin Aurora — whose festival occurred at this 
season. 

The Saxons when converted to Christianity 
continued many of their customs at the spring 
festival — but instead of saying " Eoestre hath 
awakened," greeted each other with " The Lord 
hath risen." 

Until within a comparatively short time 
special services and observance of Easter were 
confined to the Catholic and Greek churches ; 

* Oster-monat, or month of the east wind, was the Saxon name for 
April. 



22 EASTEB. 



now the festival is generally celebrated. An 
increase in the symbolic gifts at this season may 
be noticed, and many old customs are revived. 

The most prevalent and characteristic custom 
of the Easter festival has always been the giving 
of eggs. Sometimes they were eaten, oftener 
kept as amulets, or used in playing games. 

The pagan people at their new year feasts 
presented each other with eggs as a type of the 
new life of nature — which they colored to show 
their joy at the return of spring. 

Barbarous nations in Africa and South 
America offer eggs to their idols at the spring 
festivals. The Greeks had the custom of pre- 
senting colored eggs. The Romans celebrated 
the new year with egg games in honor of Castor 
and Pollux. 

The Druids used eggs in the worship of the 
goddess Eoestre. 

What wonder that with all the traditions 
and superstitions connected with the egg^ that 
this custom was continued even had it not been 
an appropriate emblem of the resurrection ? 



EASTEB. 23 



The early Christians continued this practice 
and colored the eggs red to symbolize the blood 
of their redemption. 

St. Augustine recognized the egg as a type of 
hope. Marble eggs have been found in the 
tombs of saints and martyrs. 

The contrast between the cold, lifeless egg 
and the warm downy chicken full of life and 
motion, may well have made the former an 
emblem of the endless life of the soul. 

A German writer says : 

" The egg as a symbol of the resurrection of 
Jesus, who broke forth from the grave as a 
chicken from the shell, has been from very 
ancient date an Easter gift with Christians." 

After the fourth century the Church prohibited 
the use of eggs as well as of other animal food 
during Lent, but the hens were heretical enough 
to keep on laying and the accumulated eggs 
were dyed for children at Easter. 

The Greek Church still forbids the use of 
eggs during Lent, but other churches allow their 
use during the Lenten fast. 



24 EASTEB. 



Eggs were long regarded as the transition 
food at the beginning and end of Lent. 

" And hence the egg feast formerly at Oxford 
when the scholars took leave of that kind of 
food on the Saturday after Ash Wednesday." 

Brand's Antiquities. 

" By the common people too, the preceding 
Saturday (before the first Sunday in Lent) in 
Oxfordshire particularly is called Egg Satur- 
day." 

Sampson Medii Aevi Kalendrier. 

It is supposed that the custom of decorating 
eggs at Easter arose among Catholics from joy 
at returning to their favorite food. 

According to an old tradition, the bells went 
to Rome to be blessed at Easter time, and the 
eggs were dyed scarlet like the cardinal's cloak, 
to show that the bells had brought them back 
from Rome. Angels, too, were believed to 
descend with baskets of eggs for the faithful, 
and sometimes an evil egg found its way with 
the others with dire results. 



EASTER. 25 



1605-1621. 

In the ritual of Pope Paul V., made for the 
use of England, Ireland and Scotland, occurs 
this benediction : 

"Bless, O Lord, we beseech thee, this thy 
creature of EGGS, that it may become a whole- 
some sustenance to thy faithful servants, eating 
it in thankfulness to thee, on account of the 
Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ." 

It had been the custom of the pagan priest 
to bless offerings of eggs. The line " Creep- 
inge to the cross with egges and apples," shows 
that Christians continued the custom. 

A sermon preached in England in 1570 men- 
tions that certain ones on Good Friday " offered 
unto Christe Egges and Bacon to be in his favor 
till Easter Day was past." 

An entry among the household expenses of 
Edward L of England, of eighteen pence for 
four hundred eggs for Easter, shows the observ- 
ance of the custom at that period and the ex- 
treme cheapness of eggs. 



26 EASTEB. 



In certain parts of England eggs rose in 
price at this time. 

It was once customary in Scotland to search 
for wild fowl's eggs on Easter morning for good 
luck. 

"Here are two or three jolly boys all of one 

mind; 
We've come a pace-egging and hope you'll be 

kind ; 
We hope you'll be kind with your eggs and 

your beer, 
And we'll come no more near you until the 

New Year." 

Easter is to the Russians what Christmas is to 
the Germans. It is the day of all the year for 
family gatherings, and is if possible celebrated 
in new garments. 

The people offer each other eggs, saying 
Christ is risen. 

At St. Petersburg hundreds come to kiss the 
hand of the empress, who rewards each one with 
a decorated egg of porcelain. 



EASTER. 27 



Early in the morning the churches are full 
for the mass, while all around are servants with 
dishes of eggs, waiting to have them blessed. 

In Poland Lent is rigidly observed,' and at its 
close animal food is partaken of with great 
solemnity. 

The table is laid to represent a fort. Pyramids 
of cold hard-boiled eggs surrounded by coils of 
sausage are the ordnance stores. 

The host begins the feast by cutting one of 
the eggs in thin slices and shares a slice with 
each guest in turn, while offering congratula- 
tions of the day. 

This ceremony is performed in turn by every 
one with all the others present. 

In France hens' nests were formerly ransacked 
for the largest eggs for an Easter tribute to the 
king. The priests used to go from house to 
house, leaving their blessings and receiving eggs 
enough to last for many weeks. 

During the reigns of Louis XIV. and XV. 
after mass on Easter Sunday it was the custom 



28 EASTEB. 



for the king to distribute gilded eggs to his 
courtiers. 

Passion week in Paris may be called the feast 
of eggs. In the streets may be heard the cries 
of " des oeufs " from women bearing piles of red 
and white eggs on barrows, and everybody pre- 
sents his neighbor with an egg real or artificial. 

Easter eggs are usually boiled hard, the 
shells being stained with bright colors and 
variously decorated. 

Boiling in dye gives any desired color to the 
shell. Madder or cochineal gives red, indigo 
with sulphuric acid, blue, onion skins a mottled 
yellow or brown if the boiling be long continued. 

The prepared dyes are however more conven- 
ient. Variegated eggs are produced by wrap- 
ping them tightly with silk or print and in the 
boiling process, pattern and color will be trans- 
ferred to the shell. 

If, before boiling, letters, names or dates be 
written on the shell with grease, that part will 
not take the color, so white letters will appear 
on a bright ground. 



EASTEB. 29 



To write on eggs already colored dip a stick 
or pencil in strong vinegar or other acid. 

Washing the shell with the white of a raw 
egg gives a good surface for drawing and 
painting. 

The shells may be emptied and then painted 
or colored and used to hold small gifts. 

The shells are first cleaned by washing in 
vinegar, then the eggs are pierced and a large 
needle is used to stir up the contents which are 
then blown out. 

After decoration a ribbon is put through the 
shell or the holes are covered with bright paper. 

Tiny cradles for the smallest of dolls can be 
made by breaking out one quarter of the shell 
and adding pasteboard rockers. 

Half-shells with handles of ribbon or paper 
make a pretty basket to hold a piece of jewelry. 

For a vase glue a large button mold to the 
shell and paint the whole. 

From the custom of giving Easter eggs we 
have derived the pleasant fashion of sending 
cards and small gifts at that season. Naturally 



30 EASTEB. 



many of these take the form of the egg, though 
resembling it in no other way. 

The shop windows at this season seem like 
huge bird-nests filled with all manner of fanciful 
eggs. These clever imitation eggs have long 
been an important source of revenue to France 
and Germany. 

There are eggs of all sizes, made of confec- 
tionery and more enduring materials, chocolate 
eggs with cream where the yolk should be, eggs 
adorned with mottoes, eggs of soap, of glass and 
china, ostrich eggs for bon-bon boxes, egg-shaped 
boxes, baskets, and lockets, note paper to imitate 
egg-shells, etc. 

Sofa-pillows and pincushions may take the 
shape of an egg if they are to serve as presents 
at Easter-tide. 

Another fancy is a penwiper made by gluing 
two buff worsted balls, one half the size of the 
other, into an egg-shell. 

Give the smaller ball a quill nose and black 
bead eyes, and the effect will be that of a chicken 
just leaving his shell. 



EASTEB, 31 

Aii egg cosy is a useful addition to the break- 
fast table. It is made on the plan of a tea cosy, 
and is used to keep boiled eggs warm. 

A napkin or doily may be embroidered with 
suitable designs and used for the same purpose. 

Engraving on egg shells is another amusement 
for this season. 

With wax stop up the holes in an egg that 
has been blown. Write or draw on the outside 
with tallow or varnish, then cover the whole 
with vinegar or other weak acid, for a short 
time. 

This removes some of the lime where the 
shell is not protected by the grease, and the 
writing becomes very distinct. 

In a church in Lisbon, in 1808, during the 
Spanish war, an egg was found with a predic- 
tion against the French on its shell. The super- 
stitious soldiers thought this was miraculous 
until the French general had a contradiction of 
the prophecy engraved on other shells and dis- 
tributed among them. 



32 EASTEB. 



A BOTTLED EGG. 

Any one unacquainted with the process will 
be much puzzled to see a whole egg in a bottle, 
the neck of which has a smaller diameter than 
the egg. 

It is first necessary to soak the egg in vinegar 
or some acid which will destroy most of the 
lime of the shell, without injuring its contents. 
When the shell is softened enough to extend 
slightly both ways, press it gently in the center 
and slip into the bottle. 

Cover the egg with limewater for a few days 
to harden the shell again ; then pour off the 
water and leave your friends to wonder how 
the egg came to be in the bottle. 



A DAKCING EGG. 

Fill a quill with quicksilver and seal at both 
ends, then thrust it into a hot, hard-boiled egg. 
As long as the egg is warm, it will dance. 






EASTEB. 



QUEER PEOPLE. 

Some very funny people may be made to live 
in egg shells, for the amusement of children. 

Empty the shell by blowing, and pour in 
melted bees-wax until the egg stands securely 
on its larger end ; a few shot dropped into the 
warm wax will help matters. 

With ink or black paint draw ragged lines 
near the middle as if the shell were broken 
there. On the large end sketch the features 
of an old gentleman and put a tall paper collar 
just above the ragged line. Draw on the shell 
or cut from paper and paste in place a pair of 
arms with hands clasped in front; add feet in 
the same waj r . Then put the old fellow on the 
table and he will stand on his head. 

The face may be clouded or serene at the 
pleasure of the artist, but most people would 
not feel very happy if standing on their heads. 

An old lady can be made in like manner — 
with the addition of a tissue paper cap. 



34 EASTEB. 



Another device is a small crying face with 
jagged lines around it as if the shell were broken 
a little, but the prisoner could get no further. 
Or the shell may be filled with wax or clay, and 
broken away in the place where the face is to be 
modeled. 

Rose buds or tulips can be imitated with good 
success by painting an egg and gluing on tissue 
paper or other artificial leaves at the base ; an 
acorn cup will represent the lower part of the 
calyx. 

EGG GAMES. 

At the pagan new year festivals many games 
were played with eggs, and some of them still 
survive. 

Hyde, in his Oriental Sports, says : 

" The sport consists in striking their eggs one 
against another, and the egg that breaks is won 
by the owner of the one that struck it, and 
so on." 

The Romans had egg-games at their new year, 
in honor of Castor and Pollux, who were sup- 



EASTER. 35 



posed to have come from an egg. These con- 
sisted of races in an egg-shaped ring, with eggs 
for prizes. 

"An old Saxon chronicle tells of an egg tourna- 
ment. At suitable distances, in a circle, were 
placed twelve short poles, and on top of each an 

egg- 
Around this, at full speed, ran the youths 

armed with blunt lances. The one breaking the 

most eggs was declared victor. Later, eggs 

grew too valuable to be wasted, and a similar 

game was played with wooden rings or balls. 

In this country there has of late been a revival 
of some of these games with other quaint Easter 
customs. 

Many children in days past have matched 
their eggs or rolled them over the green grass 
lots in the grounds of the White House at 
Washington. 

Probably the Easter eggs were first boiled hard 
for greater safety in these games of matching. 

At a Paas festival once held in the studio of 
a New York artist, colored eggs were hung 
by ribbons from a pussy willow-tree, while quaint 



36 EASTEB. 

little damsels distributed fresh eggs as well as 
those made of confectionery, from their dainty 
baskets. 

Near Easter time at children's parties the 
little ones may be sent bird's nesting through 
the rooms, where the nests are placed in all 
possible corners, some tucked in bushes or 
small trees. The nests must be well filled 
with candy eggs or the real article decorated, 
and the children must hunt till each finds a 
nest with his or her own name on it. 

THE CASCABONE. 

Travelers in Mexico give accounts of an egg 
game and dance existing there. 

The eggs are prepared by first emptying the 
shells, then refilling them with fine-chopped 
colored paper, tinsel, mica and sachet powder. 
The holes are then pasted over with a bit of 
paper, and the outside is gayly decorated. 

In the more prosperous days of Spanish sway, 
grandees often had the shells filled with gold 
dust and precious stones. Those times are 



EASTER. 37 



past, but occasionally small trinkets, coins and 
candies are mingled. 

Several dozen are needed by each participant 
in the cascarone. 

A stranger is at first often startled by having 
one of these fragile treasure chests broken over 
his head by a senorita to whom he has not been 
introduced ; but former acquaintance is not con- 
sidered essential. It is a great compliment to 
the recipient of the blow, who must return the 
favor at the first opportunity. 

Thrifty matrons intending to give such a ball 
save all the shells of eggs used in the household 
and spend their leisure hours in filling and 
decorating them. 

A pretty arrangement of this custom for 
children's parties was described in Wide Awake 
for April, 1889. 



IX^XSfa 



38 EGGS IN LITERATURE. 



EGGS IN LITERATURE. 

Speculative Philosopher : 

Whether first the egg, or the hen ? 

Tell me, I pray, ye learned men. 
First Scribe : 

The hen was first, or whence the egg ? 

Give us no more of your doubts, I beg. 
Second Scribe : 

The egg was first, or whence the hen ? 

Tell me how it came or when. 

This question which has been deemed worthy 
of discussion by many writers may have been 
the Sphinx's riddle. 

The origin of our domestic fowls is so ancient 
that it seems probable that they have always 
been companions and comforts of mankind. It 
is certain that they were known and esteemed 
in India, Persia and Egypt, centuries ago. 

Among writers of all ages, the egg has been 
a favorite illustration. 



EGGS IN LTTEBATUBE. 39 

It is mentioned in several places in the Bible : 
Deut xxii. 6 ; Job vi. 6 ; Luke xi. 12. 

Frequent references to its use as food may be 
found among the Latin authors. 

Plutarch left an elaborate treatise on the ques- 
tion of the precedence of the hen or the egg. 

Pliny exalts the medicinal qualities the egg 
possessed. 

Caesar, Juvenal, Cicero, Martial, Horace and 
others will be quoted further on respecting the 
use of eggs as food among the ancient races. 

The belief in the mundane egg appears to 
spread through the traditions of all nations, as 
do the stories of the deluge. 

The Arabian Nights tells of the roc's egg of 
marvelous size. Similar tales are found in 
Jewish legends. From one such bird's nest an 
egg fell which broke, and the white glued three 
hundred cedar-trees to the ground and over- 
flowed a village. 

Munchausen mentions a kingfisher's nest 
twice as large as the dome of St. Paul's, which 
contained five hundred eggs each as large as 
four hogsheads. 



40 EGGS IN L1TEBATUBE. 

The fables of the woman who killed the hen 
that laid golden eggs, and of the milkmaid 
counting her chickens before they were hatched 
or even she had exchanged her milk for eggs, 
are full of sound philosophy. 

The egg stories among the rhymes of Mother 
Goose are many. Some like that of Humpty 
Dumpty are told to children all over the world, 
in nearly every tongue spoken by man. 

It is difficult to trace much real history in the 
literature of eggs, though one event in America's 
history is closely connected with an egg story. 

The story of Columbus and his critics is too 
well known to need rehearsal. Any who wish 
to review it are referred to Washington 
Irving's Life of Columbus. 

There is, however, in the Pacific Ocean an 
island whose past history may be said to be in- 
closed in an egg-shell. 

This is Easter Island, two thousand mixes 
west of Chili. It is remarkable for its sculp- 
tured stones which are said to be the work of 
the "butterfly king." After the departure of 



EGGS IN LITEBATUBE. 41 

that ruler, elections were decided by contests in 
egg-gathering. He who first obtained the 
greatest number being chosen king. 

The huts on the island are usually shaped 
like half-sections of an egg. 

It is by no means possible to give here all or 
even the larger part of the quotations worthy 
to be gathered on this subject. 

Many of these are such terse epigrammatic 
expressions that they have become proverbs, and 
their original authors have been lost to sight by 
their general use. 

The egg was a favorite illustration with 
Shakespeare, and he often uses it to convey 
some biting sarcasm. 

" An egg or two on holidays at most, 
But their religion ne'er allowed a roast." 
Dryden. — Cock and Fox. 

" The yolke of the egg cannot be without the 
whyte, nor the whyte without the yolke, no 
more maye the clergy and the lordes be one 
without another." Bemers* Froissart. 



42 EGGS IN L1TEBATUBE, 

" Lest that ill egg bring forth a cockatrice 
To poison all with heresy and vice." 

Thos. Dudley. 1650. 

" So rides he mounted on the market day 
Upon a straw-stuffed pannell all the way — 
With a maund charged with household mer- 
chandize 
With eggs or white meat from both dayries." 

Bishop Hall. 

" To helpe it called for a puritan poacht, 
That used to turn up the eggs of his ej^es." 

Ben Jonson. 

" Nay, soft and f aire, I have eggs on the spit ; 
I cannot go yet, sir." 

Ben JoNSON. — Every Man in His Humour. 
i. e., the eggs need constant turning. 



SHAKESPEARE. 



" Thy head is as full of quarrels as an egg 
is full of meat ; and yet thy head hath been 
beaten as addle as an egg, for quarrelling." 

Romeo and Juliet, Act III. Sc. 1. 



EGGS m LITEBATUBE. 43 

" Like egg-shells moved upon their surges, 
crack'd as easily against our rocks." 

Oymheline, Act III Sc. 1. 

"Some trick not worth an. egg." 

Coriolanus, Act IV. Sc. 4. 

" And therefore think him as a serpent's egg." 
Julius Ccesar, Act II Sc. 1. 

" Even for an egg-shell." 

Hamlet, Act IV. Sc. 4. 

" Mine honest friend, 
Will you take eggs for money ? " 

Winter's Tale, Act I Sc. 2. 

" I can suck melancholy out of a song, as a 
weazel sucks eggs." 

As You like It, Act II Sc. 5. 

" Thou half-penny purse of wit, thou pigeon- 
egg of discretion." 

love's labour's lost, Act V. Sc. 1. 

" Like an ill-roasted egg, all on one side." 
As You Like It, Act III Sc. 2. 



44 EGGS IN LITEBATUBE. 

" He will steal, sir, an egg out of a cloister." 
AIVs Well That Ends Well, Act IV Sc. 3. 

" If you love an addle egg as well as you 
love an idle head, you would eat chickens i' 
the shell." 

Troilus and Cressida, Act I Sc. 2. 

" Yet, they say, we are 
Almost as like as eggs." 

Winter's Tale, Act I. Sc. 2. 

Falstaff. " Not so much as will serve to be 
prologue to an egg and butter." 

Henry IV. Part I. Act 1. Sc. 2. 

" They are up already, and call for eggs and 
butter." 

Henry IV. Part I Act II Sc. 1. 

" To her unguarded nest the weasel Scot 
Comes sneaking, and so sucks her princely eggs." 

Henry V Act I Sc. 2. 

" Go thou ; I'll fetch some flax and whites of 
eggs to apply to his bleeding face." 

Lear, Act III Sc. 7. 




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EGGS IN LITEBATUBE. 45 

" Thou hadst shiver'd like an egg.''' 

Lear, Act IV Sc. 6. 

Fool. " Give me an egg, nunele, and I'll give 
thee two crowns. 

Lear. What two crowns shall they be ? 

Fool. Why, after I have cut the egg i' the 
middle, and eat up the meat, the two crowns of 
the egg." 

Lear, Act L Sc. 4. 

" What, you egg ! 
Young fry of treachery ! " 

Macbeth, Act IV. Sc. 2. 

J* 

PROVERBS. 

There's reason in roasting of eggs. 

As full as an egg is of meat. 

Don't have too many eggs in one basket. 



46 EGGS IN LITEBATUBE. 

You cannot teach your grandmother how to 
suck eggs. 

Many people are like eggs ; too full of them- 
selves to hold anything else. 

We prize more the egg refused us than the 
ox which is given us. 

u Choose eggs of an hour, fish of ten, bread of 
a day, wine of a year, a woman of fifteen, and 
a friend of thirty." 

" Neither good egg, nor bird." 



FROM THE TURKISH. 

But yesterday out of the egg ; to-day he 
despises the shell. 

Let me cook you an egg, — but the egg is at 
the vineyard, and the vineyard is on the 
mountain. 

To-day's egg is better than to-morrow's hen. 



EGGS IN LITEBATURE. 47 

" All egg and to bed," and, " You must drink 
as much after an egg as after an ox," show the 
once popular belief in the indigestibility of eggs. 

"I'll warrant you an egg for Easter," is to 
give assurance of something already certain. 

" Better half an egg than the empty shell." 

A picture of peace and prosperity is this 
token from the Beggar's Bush : 

" Each man shall eat his own eggs and butter 
In his own shade and sunshine." 

The small value of eggs is variously expressed : 

" Who will take eggs for money ? " or, " You 
will get eggs for your money," or " He gave 
me eggs for money." 

" O, rogue, rogue ! I shall have eggs for my 
money ; I must lay myself." 

"As dear as two eggs a penny," indicates a 
bad bargain, as also, " You come with your five 
eggs a penny and four of them be rotten." 



48 EGGS IN LITEBATUBE. 

" To come with five eggs," signified to make 
a foolish, remark, in the time of Sir Thomas 
More's Utopia : " Whiles another gyveth coun- 
sell to make pease with the Kynge of Arragone, 
another commeth in wyth hyse v eggs." 

He that buys eggs, buys many shells. " Give 
him the other half-egg, and burst him." 

44 Purposes, like eggs, unless they be hatched 
into action, will run into decay." 

Smiles. 

44 Enjoy spare feast ! a radish and an egg." 

Cowper. 

" It's very hard to shave an egg." 

Geo. Herbert. — Jacula Prudentum. 

" Now's the only bird lays eggs of gold." 

J. R. Lowell. — Hosea Bigelow. 

" Things said for conversation are chalk eggs." 

R. W. Emerson. 

" Tom, my boy, this world is hollow as an 
egg-shell." 

H. B. Stowe. 



EGGS IN LITEBATUBE. 49 

" The greatest event in a hen's life is made 
up of an egg and a cackle/' 

H. W. Beecheb. 

" And eggs — even they have their moral. 
See how they come and go. Every pleasure is 
transitory. We can't even eat long." 

Dickens, in Martin Chuzzlewit. 

" A mystery hatched out of an egg and just 
as mysterious as if the egg had been addle." 

Hawthorne. 

" All this noise on account of an egg. The 
children have picked up an egg ? Great good 
will it do them. There is not very much in an 
egg. God provides them for everybody." 

Tolstoi. 

" No more egg-pop made with eggs that would 
have been fighting cocks to judge by the 
pugnacity the beverage containing their yolks 
developed." 

O. W. Holmes. — JEssays. 

"I try his head occasionally as housewives 
try eggs — give it an intellectual shake and 



50 



EGGS EV LITEBATUBE. 



hold it up to the light, so to speak, to see if it 
has life in it actual or potential or only contains 
lifeless albumen." 

Autocrat of the Breakfast Table. 

u I think that a hen who undertakes to lay 
2 eggs a day must necessarily neglect sum 
other branch of bizzness." 

Josh Billings. 

" Ay, touch it with a tender touch, 

For, till the egg is biled, 
Who knows but that unwittingly 

It may be smashed and spiled ? 
The summer breeze that 'gainst it blows 

Ought to be stilled and hushed, 
For eggs like youthful purity, 

Are ' orful ' when they're squushed." 
From a Tender Lay on a New-laid Flgg, 



BOMANCES OF EGGS. 51 




ROMANCES OF EGGS. 

IN the good old times Easter eggs were 
often adorned with tiny pictures or 
emblematical devices and sentimental 
mottoes. Such eggs did duty as val- 
entines, and were afterward preserved in the 
homes of the happy pairs. That the inscription 
might be read without touching the frail treas- 
ure, the egg was often kept in a glass. The 
dates on these eggs were considered as reliable 
evidence as those from a tombstone. 

The new fashion of egg photographs is but a 
revival of this old custom. 

Many lovers of the present day have been 
made happy by receiving an Easter egg bearing 
a photograph of their sweethearts. 

Photographs of distinguished persons are 
often pasted on Easter eggs and sent to their 
friends or more often their enemies. A patri- 
otic German would hardly care to receive a 



52 BOMANCES OF EGGS. 

Boulanger egg, or a Frenchman one bearing 
Bismarck's face. 

An iron egg is to be seen in one of the grand- 
est of the European museums, which was once 
sent as a betrothal gift from a prince to a princess. 

The lady angr) r at so mean a present, flung it 
to the floor, when a spring opened showing a 
silver lining, a second opening revealed a yolk 
of gold, and a third and fourth displayed dia- 
monds and rubies, by which the lady's dis- 
pleasure was soon assuaged. 

" The marriage aux ceufs" between Marguer- 
ite of Austria, gouvernante of Flanders, and 
Philibert the Handsome, Duke of Savoy, is 
a still more romantic story. 

It was the custom on Easter Monday in the 
district of Bresse to scatter a hundred eggs on 
a level place, covered by sand. Then a lad and 
lass, hand in hand, would execute the dance of 
the country. If they succeeded without break- 
ing an egg they were considered affianced, even 
if it were against their parents' will. 

On this occasion three couples had tried in 






ROMANCES OF EGGS. 53 

vain, but Savoy and Austria accomplished the 
dance without crushing a single shell. When 
Philibert said, " Let us adopt the custom 
of Bresse," Marguerite suffered her hand to 
remain in his, and history tells us that their 
married life was long and happy. 



54 COMMERCIAL STATISTICS. 




COMMERCIAL STATISTICS. 

?HE egg trade differs from most other 
branches of business ; the supply is 
limited, while the demand is almost 
unlimited. 

Small flocks of poultry are almost always more 
profitable than large ones. This affords a better 
opportunity for undertaking the egg business, 
as a large capital is not required. 

The census returns do not give a full report 
of the egg production of the United States, but 
furnish the figures of those which are bought 
and sold ; perhaps an equal quantity is con- 
sumed by the producers. 

In 1879, according to the tenth census, the 
number of eggs produced was 456,910,916 
dozen. At fifteen cents per dozen, the egg crop 
would amount to $68,536,637. 

The consumption of one egg daily bj^ each 
inhabitant of the United States could hardly be 



i, 



COMMEBCIAL STATISTICS. 55 

thought an extravagant estimate. This would 
amount to over four million dozen. 

That there may be no reason for disputing 
his figures, Edward Atkinson puts one half an 
egg as the daily average, and counts the cost 
as only one cent each ; even then the value of 
the annual egg crop would be about one hundred 
million dollars. This sum is more than the 
value of the annual product of silver or pig-iron 
or wool. 

The poultry and egg crop together are esti- 
mated to be worth two hundred and fifty million 
dollars annually to the United States. And yet 
we import annually forty-eight million dozen 
eggs from Canada, France, Germany, Austria 
and Denmark. 

During the last four months of 1888, 6708 
cases, each containing fifty dozen, were thus 
brought into the United States. This will con- 
tinue until poultry raisers demand a duty on 
foreign eggs. 

Warner Miller (K Y. Weekly Tribune,M*r. 28, 
1888) says : " Farmers' letters are almost unani- 
mous in urging increase of duties on eggs, hav- 



56 



COMMEBCIAL STATISTICS. 



ing the impression that eggs are now dutiable. 
They are not — they are admitted free. Though 
imports are small, they have affected prices on 
the sea board and Canada border. Farmers' 
wives and children would be glad of the two 
million dollars yearly sent abroad for eggs. 

"Eggs come from France and Belgium (China 
107,275 dozen, in 1887), England, Germany, 
Mexico and specially Canada whence (1887) 
13,682,000 dozen. Exports never have reached 
four hundred thousand dozen. 



IMPORTS AND EXPORTS FROM 1877 TO 1887 





IMPORTS 






IMPORTS 


DATE 


DOZ. 


EXP. DOZ. 


DATE 


DOZ. 


1877 


5,048,271 


32,591 


1883 


15,277,065 


1878 


6,053.649 


94,265 


1884 


16,488,507 


1879 


6,022,506 


91,740 


1885 


16,099,410 


1880 


7,773,492 


85,885 


1886 


15,992,642 


1881 


9,578,071 


80,146 


1887 


13,930,054 


1882 


11,928,784 


146,776 







EXP. DOZ. 

300,023 
295,484 

240,768 
212,202 
372,912 



" A duty of five cents per dozen will incon- 
venience only foreigners." 






COMMEBCIAL STATISTICS. 57 

Imported eggs are sold in all large cities in 
the East and North, mainly to packers and 
manufacturers. 

New York City takes about one fifteenth of 
the entire crop. For the year ending October 
31, 1887, New York received 59,095,330 dozen, 
and imported also fifty thousand dozen. 

In January, 1889, 57,653 barrels, each con- 
taining sixty-five to seventy dozen eggs, were re- 
ceived in New York, against 37,103 barrels dur- 
ing the same month in 1888. The increase was 
largely due to the mild winter. 

Chicago, in 1888, received 624,721 cases, 
each case containing thirty dozen, and shipped 
460,060 cases. 

Philadelphia, in 1887, had 501,245 cases, or 
15,037,350 dozen. 

The San Francisco report is incomplete, but 
shows about four million dozen. 

Figures from the Boston Chamber of Com- 
merce give the annual receipts of eggs in that 
city as follows : 



58 COMMERCIAL STATISTICS. 



1885 . 


. 10,000,000 dozen. 


1886 . 


. 12,000,000 « 


1887 . 


. 13,500,000 " 


1888 . 


. 14,100,000 « 



A part of these find a market outside the city, 
but are balanced by the quantity brought in by 
small dealers. 

Carroll D. Wright, in the Massachusetts Cen- 
sus of 1885, gives figures which show the rapid 
increase in the demand and supply of eggs. 

In 1855, poultry and eggs, $52,688. 

In 1885, eggs alone, $1,615,582. 

Of the total number— 7,072,187 1-2 dozen — 
Bristol and Worcester counties produce 1,000,000 
dozen each, and Middlesex ranks next. 

Great Britain receives eggs from France, Ger- 
many, Spain, Portugal and the Azores ; eggs 
valued at from $10,000,000 to $15,000,000 
($1,000,000 per month). 

In 1875 the value of the eggs imported was 
£2,559,860. 



COMMEBCIAL STATISTICS. 59 

French eggs are often, retailed in England 
within a week after they are laid. 

In 1813 France sent to England 1,754,140 
eggs. In 1878 there came from the Continent 
391,174,000,000 eggs. 

Berlin requires about 200,000,000 eggs yearly. 

The estimate of food per capita in Paris, as 
annually published, allows each person fifteen 
dozen or 180 eggs. 

Soyer estimated that the average man con- 
sumed 24,000 eggs in his lifetime. 

Large bakeries or biscuit factories use often 
80,000 eggs daily. 

An ocean steamer takes 15,000 to 20,000 for 
each trip. 

Hotels use from 1000 to 5000 eggs every daj^. 

Gladstone, as reported by the London Live 
Stock Journal (five years ago), says : 



60 COMMERCIAL STATISTICS. 



" I will now take another case — that of eggs ; that is 
a very good illustration, for it is in everybody's power to 
rear poultry, and, if I may say, grow eggs. 

In 1855, though that was a time when freedom of trade 
had advanced largely in the country, and when there was, 
consequently, a very great increase in the consumption of 
good food by the people, 100,000,000 eggs were imported 
from abroad, which represented a consumption of an 
average of 34 foreign eggs to every man, woman and 
child. 

You might have said, if asked to send eggs: 'O, no! 
there are already plenty or more than enough in the 
market.' 

But that is not the fact, for in 1880 the import had in- 
creased to 750,000,000 eggs from foreign countries. 

It is hardly credible, so vast and so multiplied is the 
demand for these little but very useful commodities, every 
one of them helping to feed somebody. 

The consumption per head has increased from 34 to no 
fewer than 264 eggs. 

That illustrates what I have said to you about the enor- 
mous, insatiable capacity of the human stomach. Depend 
upon it, that if it be in your power to turn your attention 
— I do not say at first on a very large but on a moderate 
scale — to the production of those articles which are of 
the nature of comforts, or even comparative luxuries, 
for popular consumption, you will see that gradually the 
market will open and adjust itself for their reception. 

I think the figures I have quoted are a distinct proof 
of the truth and reality of what I have said." 






COMMERCIAL STATISTICS. 61 

Statistics also show that the Northern States, 
particularly New England, produce the largest 
number of eggs from a given number of hens. 

This is probably due to the greater care and 
variety of food given the hens, since the milder 
climate of the South ought to favor the pro- 
duction of eggs. 

Most of the eggs used in large hotels in 
Florida, and elsewhere in the South, are sent 
from the Northern States. 

Large eggs naturally bring the highest price, 
and will continue to do so as long as eggs are 
sold by count instead of weight. 

In some places it is now customary to sell 
eggs by the pound, and when this practice pre- 
vails cookery will become a more exact science. 

Eggs are often sorted or sized, like fruit, by 
passing through a ring. 

The average weight is as follows : 

Hens eggs 1^ to 2 ounces. 

Ducks " 2 to 3 " 

Turkey " 3 to 4 " 

Goose " 4 to 6 " 



62 COMMEBGIAL STATISTICS. 

WEIGHT AND PRODUCTION OF EGGS. 

P. L. Simmonds, before the London Society 
of Arts : 

" The standard yield and weight of eggs for the different 
varieties of the domestic fowl may be taken as follows : 
Light Brahmas and Partridge Cochins, eggs seven to the 
pound; they lay, according to treatment and food, from 
eighty to one hundred and fifty per annum; sometimes 
more if kept well. Dark Brahmas, eight to the pound, 
seventy per annum. " 

TO THE POUND PER ANNUM 

Black, White and Buff Cochins .. 8 .... 100 

Plymouth Rocks 8 .... 100 

Houdan* 8 .... 150 

LaFleche 7 .... 130 

Black Spanish 7 . . . . 150 

Dominiques 9 . . . . 130 

Game Fowl 9 .... 130 

Creves . . . • 7 .... 130 

Leghorns 9 .. 150 to 200 

Hamburgs 9 .... 170 

Polish 9 .... 150 

Bantams 16 ... . 00 

Turkeys .' 6 .. 35 to 60 

Ducks 5 to 6 ... . 

Geese 4 . . . . 20 

Guinea Fowl 11 ... . 60 

* Non-sitters 






COMMEBCIAL STATISTICS. 63 



NATIONAL BUTTER, CHEESE AND EGG 
ASSOCIATION. 

The report of the Committee on Packing and 
Preserving Eggs : 

" It is very evident that the salvation, pros- 
perity and future confidence in this trade de- 
pends on substituting the weight of twenty-four 
ounces for ten eggs as a standard of quality or 
value, instead of counting as at present. . . 

" This is not all of it ; for the more healthy 
Northern egg will greatly outsell the lighter, 
weaker and more sickly Southern egg. The old, 
dried-up, withered remnant of an egg^ now so 
common, will not linger to plague the consumer 
and commission man. 

"Eggs laid by birds and small guinea-hens 
will, when sold by actual weight, become a 
curiosity in the market instead of being as now 
often sold as a subterfuge for food." 



64 TESTS OF THE FBESHNESS OF EGGS. 




TESTS OF THE FRESHNESS OF EGGS. 

^KW"SS?HE perishable nature of eggs is their 
|/^s; greatest disadvantage. 
lJ*L Though many experiments have 
been tried, as yet no practical method 
has been discovered for keeping eggs in their 
original freshness for any great length of time. 

An "egg tester" is a little instrument for 
holding an egg directly before a strong light, 
which is obtained by an arrangement of mirrors ; 
this is convenient, but not essential. 

Fresh eggs are transparent throughout; old 
ones only at the top, and dark spots appear in 
the center. If held before a bright light these 
spots appear ; therefore this process is called 
" candling " by egg-dealers. 

The specific gravity of the fresh egg is 
greater than that of water. (Hence is used as 
a test of solutions.) 

As the egg grows older it loses water by 



TESTS OF THE FBESHNESS OF EGGS. 65 

evaporation through the pores of the shell and 
takes in more air. Hence the smaller the air 
cell the fresher the egg. Fresh eggs will sink 
in pure water, and if salt be added to the water 
the proof of their purity will be still stronger. 
Uncertain ones will stand on one end, while bad 
ones will float. 

If totally bad, a large portion of the contents 
of an egg are in a gaseous state, and therefore 
it is very light, while a fresh egg is heavy ; 
eggs may thus be compared in the hand. 

When an egg rattles if shaken, it is of doubt- 
ful freshness ; for this shows that the air space 
is large and the inner lining loose. 

This is not a desirable test, since such treat- 
ment might break the yolk bag or the skin 
lying next the shell, and in either case hasten 
the decomposition. 

Another test is to place the large end against 
the tongue. If slightly warm it indicates that 
the shell is full and the contents good ; if cold, 
that that end of the shell is empty, and life 
bxtinct. 

When any number of eggs is to be used in 



66 TESTS OF THE FRESHNESS OF EGGS. 

cooking it is best to break them separately, to 
avoid spoiling all by one bad one. 

The shell of a fresh egg is often rougher than 
that of a stale one ; but the eggs of different 
breeds differ in this respect. 










& 



T 



PBESEBVATION OF EGGS. 67 




PRESERVATION OF EGGS. 

IR and heat are the two chief agents 
in the decomposition of eggs, as of all 
animal substances. 

Almost anything that will exclude 
the air from the egg will aid in its preservation, 
provided it be kept in a cool place and in an 
upright position, so that the yolk shall not 
adhere to the shell. 

It is not usually desirable to preserve eggs 
for the markets, since the fresh article always 
brings better prices ; but frugal housekeepers 
when eggs are low in price maj r provide a sup- 
ply for winter use when market prices double. 

Limed eggs may be found in the markets at 
several cents per dozen less than fresh, and 
other preserved eggs come under the same class. 

The lime, however, is apt to eat the shell ; to 
give a slight taste to the whole egg^ and often 
! hardens the yolk and turns it red. ' 



68 PBESEBVATION OF EGGS. 

A reliable formula for the lime water is this : 
One pint of salt and one pint of lime dissolved 
in three or four gallons of hot water ; two ounces 
of cream of tartar is sometimes added. Boil all 
together and skim, and when cold cover the 
eggs with it. A stone jar is the best thing to 
pack them in. 

The lime fills the pores in the egg-shell, and 
thus keeps it air-tight. 

Borax water made in the proportion of one 
heaping teaspoonful of borax to one pint of 
boiling water also makes the shell air-tight. 

A solution of silicate of soda acts chemically 
with the lime of the shell, excluding the air. 

An easier, but effectual method is to coat the 
egg with any kind of fat or oil ; olive, cotton or 
linseed oils, or lard or beef or mutton fat. It 
was the old custom along the Mississippi River 
to pack eggs in barrels of lard ; when they had 
reached their destination eggs and lard were 
separated and both sold. In Russia the eggs 
are packed small end down, and melted tallow 
poured over them. 



PBESEBVATION OF EGGS. 69 

The grease fills the air-holes and keeps out 
the air, but its tendency to grow rancid is a 
disadvantage. 

A mixture of one third bees-wax and two 
thirds oil, olive or cotton-seed, warmed together, 
is also recommended. 

Vaseline has been used, melted with three per 
cent, salicylic acid. 

The Chinese method of preserving eggs is to 
dip in melted wax. 

Varnish or gum arabic may be used in the 
same fashion. 

] The white of egg rubbed over the outside 
fills the shell to the exclusion of the air. 

At a poultry show held not long ago in Eng- 
land, the first prize for preserved eggs was 

; awarded to those which had beeu packed in 
salt. Yet sometimes the eggs absorb too much 

i salt. 

Sawdust, ashes, baked earth, sand and pow- 
dered charcoal have all been used successfully 
for packing eggs. 



70 PBESEBVATION OF EGGS. 

In England, at a dairy show held in 1884, the 
first premium for preserved eggs was given to 
those which had been dipped in gum arabic; 
the second, to eggs rubbed in lard and packed 
in salt. 

A comparison of eggs treated with lime- 
water, others with a paste of chalk and water, 
and others with diluted white of egg and water- 
glass, showed the latter to be the best method 
of preserving the original flavor. 

Eggs dipped in linseed oil have in six months 
lost only three per cent, of their original weight, 
while those not treated at all had lost eighteen 
per cent. 

Dr. Hunter, in his Culina, has said : " Boil 
one minute to keep a year." 

This is the easiest way of all for the average 
housekeeper. 

Put fresh eggs in a wire basket and hold in 
boiling water while counting six, being sure that 
the water touches every part alike. This hard- 
ens the white of the egg lying close to the 



PBESEBVATION OF EGGS. 71 

shell, and that keeps out the air. Let them 
cool, wipe dry and pack in oats, ashes or salt, 
and they may be kept a year. 

The eggs may each be closely wrapped in 
paper after treatment, or the paper alone is a 
great protection, as it is nearly air-tight. 

Dealers sometimes use boards, with holes 
small enough to prevent the eggs slipping 
through, but large enough to keep them upright. 

More often egg-cases are supplied with paste- 
board divisions, each space large enough to hold 
an egg. 



AUSTRALIAN METHOD OF PRESERVING EGGS. 

Glass jars with patent stoppers having vul- 
canized India rubber joints, making them per- 
fectly air-tight, are used. 

These jars are placed in hot water until the 
air in them is warm and rarefied. 

As soon as the eggs are collected they are 
wrapped in paper to prevent knocking, and are 



72 PBESEBVATION OF EGGS. 






placed in the warm jars, with the pointed ends 
up. The jars are immediately closed up, and 
then removed from the hot water. 

If this process is skillfully carried out the 
eggs will be fit for the table months afterward. 
The secret is to heat the air in the jars thoroughly ; 
the papers may be baked and used warm. 

Any stopper will do that excludes the air. 



Dessicated or portable eggs have been pre- 
pared for market to some extent. 

Beaten egg is evaporated at a temperature of 
one hundred and twenty-five degrees Fahren- 
heit, till perfectly dry and hard. It is then 
packed, and when wanted for use, three parts of 
cold water are added to one part egg. Blood 
albumen and chromate of lead are often used to 
adulterate eggs thus prepared. 

Messrs. Effner & Co., of Passau, Bavaria, pre- 
pare this egg-meat, of the best quality, by using 
only the best eggs. 



PBESEBVATION OF EGGS. 73 

It is said to be perfectly satisfactory for cakes 
and omelets. 

Though a great convenience for travelers, it 
will hardly take the place of fresh eggs. 

This preparation somewhat resembles gelatine 
in appearance, consisting of crystallized par- 
ticles, of but ten per cent, or fifteen per cent, of 
the original weight. 

The main points to remember in preserving 
eggs, are : 

1. That heat hastens either decay or develop- 
ment. 

2. That anything that excludes the air, pro- 
vided it will not affect the flavor of the egg^ may 
be used in packing. 

3. That however carefully preserved, it must 
not be expected that they be equal in flavor to 
fresh eggs. 

Eggs may be kept in a cool, dark place where 
they cannot freeze, for three months, without 
other protection than being placed in an upright 
position. The} r should be reversed occasionally, 
to prevent the yolk from adhering to the shell. 



ABTS AND 3IANUFACTUBES. 



USE OF EGGS IN ARTS AND 
MANUFACTURES. 

■HE shell of emu and ostrich eggs are 
often used as drinking cups and cook- 
pk |(f^ * n 8 utensils by the natives ; and neck- 
laces are made of pieces of shell. 
They are also decorated and mounted as vases. 

Powdered shells are used in the manufacture 
of imitation ivory. 

The adhesive nature of the white makes it a 
useful glue or cement, especially when mixed 
with brick dust, plaster of Paris, gum mastic, 
lime, or the Chinese use it with powdered 
glass to mend China. 

The albumen of the egg white is largely used 
as a varnish for cards and paintings, and in 
photography and calico printing. 

The Alsatians alone use thirty-eight million 
annually. 



ABTS AND MANUFACTUBES. 75 

The white of egg is also used in making court 
plaster ; the luster of morocco leather is restored 
by it ; gold leaf is applied to leather by its aid, 
and grease is removed from leather by one or 
two applications. 

The yolk is used to render oils diffusible in 
water; from it Russia, a valuable oil, is ex- 
tracted, which is used in manufacture of the 
Kazan soap. Before the discovery of oil colors, 
the yolk was used by painters, as in the Chapter 
House at Westminster. 

In the preparation of the finest leather the 
j^olks are used, the oil giving to kid the soft- 
ness so esteemed in gloves, one egg being used 
for each skin. 

That the value of eggs for clarifying various 
substances has long been known is shown by 
one entry, in the year 1350, in the household 
books of the French court, of eggs to clarify 
sugar. At the present time in France, wine 
clarifiers use eighty million annually. 

There is a legitimate use for bad eggs, though 
the natural association of ideas connect them 



76 ABTS AND MANTJFACTUBES, 

only with riots. Some firms make a business 
of collecting ancient eggs from large dealers. 
After opening they are classified by age. The 
yolks of the better grades are used by morocco 
dressers, the whites in some kinds of confection- 
ery, while the very bad are used in tanneries 
for polishing leather. 



THE CHEMISTBY OF THE EGG. 



77 



THE CHEMISTRY OF THE EGG. 



ITANDARD authorities give the fol- 
lowing proportions of chemical ele- 
ments in the dry substance of the 
average hen's egg ; other eggs show 
but slight variations : 




Carbon . . 53 to 55 per 


cent. 


Nitrogen . . 15 to 16 " 




Hydrogen . 7 " 




Oxygen . . 21 to 22 " 




Sulphur . . 1 to 2 " 




Phosphorus . 5 " 




A more practical form of analysis 


is this : 


EGGS 


BEEF 


Water . . 74 Water 


. . 64 


Proteid . . 12.5 Proteid 


. . 14 


Fat ... 12 Fat . 


. . 21 


Salts ... 1 Salts . 


• . 1 



78 THE CHEMISTBY OF THE EGG. 



Dr. 


Pavy quotes 


from Letheby these 


figures : 




WATER 


ALBUMEN 


FATS 


SALTS 


Entire 


egg 74 


14 


10.5 


1.5 


Yolk 


52 


16 


30.7 


1.3 


White 


78 


20.4 




1.6 



Konig gives for the different parts of the egg : 

WATER NUT. SUB. EAT ASH 

Whole egg 74 12.5 12 1 

White of egg 85.5 13 0.25 0.5 

Yolk " " 51 16 31.5 1 

The average egg weighs a trifle less than two 
ounces. Seven to ten are required for one 
pound. 



1 lb. shelled eggs : 



OZ. GR. 



Water 


. 12 


66 


Proteid . 


. 2 





Fat . . 


. 1 


240 


Salts . . 




418 



THE CHEMISTRY OF THE EGG. 79 

Reckoning the weight at two ounces, and 
deducting one tenth for the weight of the shell, 
the dry constituents of the egg would be : 

Nitrogenous matter 110 gr. 

Fatty " 82 " 

Saline " 11 " 

A trace of sugar is often present in the egg, 
also of soda and starch. 

The type of all nitrogenous foods is albumen, 
found in its purest natural form in the white of 
the egg. It corresponds to the fibrine of meat, 
the gluten of grains and the caseine of milk. 

The presence of sulphur is shown by the 
black stain which appears on silver spoons used 
with eggs. While fresh it may be removed by 
salt ; afterward by rubbing with whiting. 

The offensive smell of aged eggs is caused by 
the combination of the hydrogen in the air with 
the sulphur and phosphorus of the egg. 



80 THE CHEM1STBY OF THE EGG. 

By observation and experiments scientists 
have found that certain fungi will develop in 
eggs, since the unbroken shells may be pene- 
trated by liquids which introduce the germs. 

If the shells are dry these fungi cannot flour- 
ish, but if moist, they send long fibers through 
the pores of the shell. 

Sometimes they give the egg a similar ap- 
pearance to that caused by the boiling process. 

The temperature of one hundred and four 
degrees Fahrenheit, sustained for three weeks 
time, is sufficient to hatch eggs. Their vitality 
has been retained after exposure to ten degrees 
Fahrenheit. 

" It is a remarkable fact that the freezing 
point of new-laid eggs is much lower than that 
of the water and albumen of which they prin- 
cipally consist, both of which congeal at about 
the same temperature." 

Appleton's American Cyclopaedia. 

Egg albumen coagulates when exposed to 
heat, alcohol, strong acids or metallic salts. 






THE GHEMISTBY OF THE EGG. 81 

Experiments with white of egg have shown 
that it begins to cook at one hundred and 
thirty-four degrees Fahrenheit, while at one hun- 
dred and sixty degrees it becomes a solid mass ; 
at two hundred and twelve degrees it shrinks 
and begins to grow horny. A greater degree 
of heat will render albumen too hard to be 
easily digested. Hence eggs will cook after 
they are taken from the fire until cooled to one 
hundred and thirty or one hundred and forty 
degrees Fahrenheit. 



THE FOLLOWING POINTS ARE TO BE REMEM- 
BERED IN ALL COOKING OF EGGS. 

The fresher the eggs the more time required 
for cooking, since they then contain a greater 
proportion of water, and since albumen requires 
higher temperature in proportion as it is diluted 
with water. 

Albumen, the main substance of the egg^ re- 
quires less cooking and a lower degree of heat 
than starch, therefore they should not usually 



82 THE CHEMISTBY OF THE EGG. 

be combined unless the latter has been pre- 
viously cooked. 

Eggs cook at such a low temperature that 
they are used to protect other articles. 

A coating of beaten egg quickly becomes 
hard and helps the food thus covered to keep 
its shape and retain its juices. 

To clarify liquids like syrups, jellies, soups 
and coffee, egg albumen has no equal. 

Mix with the cold liquid the white and shells 
of eggs, one or two to each quart, and stir the 
mixture until it is ready to boil. After five min- 
utes uninterrupted boiling cool and strain. 

The adhesive nature of the albumen causes it 
to stick to all tiny particles which float, making 
the liquid turbid ; heat then coagulates it, mak- 
ing it settle to the bottom, carrying the particles 
with it and leaving the liquid clear. Some light 
substances will rise on top in the form of scum. 

For coffee, mix egg-shells, ground coffee and 
a little cold water before adding boiling water. 



THE CHEMISTBY OF THE EGG. 



83 



If too much egg be used the full strength of 
the coffee will not be obtained, the albumen pre- 
venting its escape. Egg-shells, therefore, wiped 
clean before breaking, are sufficient to make the 
coffee clear if one or two are used for one quart. 



84 



MEDICINE. 



MEDICINE. 




HE commonness of the egg makes it 
a valuable remedy when others could 
not be obtained. If swallowed at 
once a raw egg will detach a fish- 
bone which has lodged in the throat. 

Whites of eggs taken immediately after cer- 
tain poisons will render them harmless ; such 



as 



salts 



of lead, mercury, copper and acid 
poisons. The white of one egg will neutralize 
four grains of corrosive sublimate. It should be 
mixed with water and drank. 

The albumen is coagulated by the poison and 
wraps it in an insoluble covering, thus protect- 
ing the delicate coatings of the stomach until 
the patient is relieved by vomiting. 

A French method of administering castor 
oil (cod liver, likewise) is to first warm it, stir 
in an egg, cook slightly, flavor with salt, sugar 
or acid jelly. The bitter taste of quinine may 






MEDICINE. 85 



be disguised by mixing it with the white of an 

egg- 

An oil is made from the yolk, which in Russia 
is considered almost miraculous in its healing 
properties. 

The eggs are boiled hard, the yolks crushed, 
heated and stirred till the whole mass is almost 
ready to take fire, when each yolk will yield two 
or more teaspoonf uls of the oil. 

Or, one part raw j^olk is beaten with two 
parts water, one part alcohol is then added and 
the mixture left until the oil floats. 

Or, the dry yolk is crushed, and digested in 
alcohol or ether, becomes colorless, while a bright 
yellow oil, about two thirds the whole weight of 
the dry yolk, is extracted. 

The bites of insects are made easier by a 
plaster of the yolk of an egg and salt. 

The yolk and spirits of turpentine are used 
as a salve. 

The whole of a raw egg^ or the yolk alone, 
may be rubbed into the hair occasionally to 



86 MEDICINE. 



stimulate its growth and prevent falling off; 
wash thoroughly with soft water afterwards. 

For tan or sunburn, the juice of one lemon 
and white of one egg may be slightly cooked 
together and applied at night; the mixture is 
soft and cooling. 

Egg and lemon juice beaten together are 
recommended for hoarseness. It has long been 
thought that eggs were good for the voice. 
Charles II. of England presented a favorite 
singer with a silver egg filled with guineas, 
saying : " Take this ; I am told that eggs are 
good for the voice." 

Beat the whites of two eggs with two table- 
spoonfuls of cream, sweeten, and add one half 
teaspoonful of powdered gum arabic ; swallow 
slowly for sore throat. 

Mixed with honeyed wine and oil of roses, 
yolk of egg was an early remedy for diseased 
eyes. The white of egg and plantain water is 
sometimes used for inflamed eyes. 



MEDICINE. 87 



Alum curd, made by mixing white of egg 
with alum, is used in medicine as an astringent 
poultice. 

Mustard for plasters, if mixed with white of 
egg, will do its work without blistering. 

The white of egg is an excellent application 
to exclude the air from any place where the 
skin is broken, especially for burns and scalds. 
Several coatings are necessary to exclude the 
air. It is more- cooling than sweet oil. 

The skin of an egg is sometimes used for 
boils, or wherever the skin is grazed it forms a 
finer plaster than any that can be applied. 

Allopath and homeopath both find that egg- 
shells calcined at low heat give the purest form 
of carbonate of lime. The animal composition 
being better suited to the human stomach than 
chalk. It is used as an antiacid, and is a valu- 
ble absorbent. 

The powdered shells are used as tooth powder. 

Raw and hard-boiled eggs are the best of foods 
for young fishes, birds and sick animals. 



88 EGGS AS FOOD. 




EGGS AS FOOD. 

jHE use of eggs for food may be said 
to be a direct interference with the 
intentions of nature, yet it may like- 
wise be taken as an indication of the 
advance of civilization. 

" Look at the polished nations hight, 

The civilized, the most polite, 
Is that which bears the praise of nations 
For dressing eggs two hundred fashions, 

Whereas at savage feeders look — 

The less refined — the less they cook." 

Hood. 

The custom of ancient shepherds in the far 
East was to place the raw egg in a sling, which 
was then Avhirled round and round until the 
heat produced by the rapid motion had cooked 
the egg within. 



EGGS AS FOOD. 89 



From this primitive method to the elaborate 
concoctions of modern cooks (who even use the 
perfumes of flowers as flavors for omelets and 
the like), there is a great advance. For these 
variations, we are indebted to the experiments 
of French cooks, who by changes of sauces and 
seasoning could serve eggs in a different fashion 
every day in the year. 

" Though many, I own, are the evils they've 

brought us, 
Though royalty's there on her very last legs, 
Yet who can help loving the land that has 

taught us, 
Six hundred and eighty-five ways to dress eggs ? 

Moore. 

The Romans began their coena, or supper, the 
distinctively family meal, with eggs as a relish, 
and closed with fruit. Horace therefore uses 
the phrase, " Ab ovo usque ad mala " (from the 
egg to the apples), to signify from the begin- 
ning to the end of the feast. 



90 EGGS AS FOOD. 

Juvenal speaks. of — 

" The largest Eggs yet warm within their nest, 
Together with the Hens which laid them drest." 

Utensils found in Pompeii make it plain that 
eggs were favorites there ; in a painting from 
the walls of one of the excavated houses, a row 
of egg-yolks appear as a decoration of some 
dish upon the dining-table. 






According to Caesar, the flesh of fowls was a 
forbidden food in Briton ; though it was freely 
used by the conquerors. The Saxons, however, 
kept many geese and ate their eggs, but thought 
it sacrilege to eat the flesh of a bird which 
furnishes such desirable food while living. 

In the thirteenth century, from a history of 
the street cries of Paris, we learn that eggs were 
hawked in that city. 

They appear to have been used as food in all 
ages, though the price of three pence for two 
dozen, which was fixed by the English Parlia- 
ment of the fourteenth century, shows either 



EGGS AS FOOD. 91 



that they were not in great demand, or were 
very abundant. 

Among the dishes of the fifteenth century, in 
which eggs figured largely, were the jussell 
made of eggs and grated bread, and seasoned 
with saffron and sage. The froise was a sort of 
omelet, in which strips of bacon appeared. The 
tansy was another omelet, seasoned with chopped 
herbs. 

Eggs were also used in caudles — a sort of 
custard — and in the wassail. 

The cooks of that age had a fancy for glazing 
their dishes with raw egg-yolk, which process 
was known as endowing. 

Eggs with green sauce were served at Gray's 
Inn on Easter Day. 

Eggs and bacon were commonly combined in 
Chaucer's time. 

Buttered eggs, the ancestor of scrambled eggs 
and similar entries, was a common dish in Eng- 
land in early times, according to the household 
books of the noblemen. 

Shakespeare mentions this mixture as a 
common food with country carriers. 



92 EGGS AS FOOD. 

Massinger, in the City Madam, says : 
" Men may talk of country Christmasses, 
Their thirty-pound buttered eggs and their pies 
of carp's tongues." 

Sir Kenelm Digby speaks of buttering eggs 
with cream. He also tells of a Chinese drink 
where eggs are used. 

" The Jesuit that came from China, A. D. 
1664, told Mr. Waller that to a drachm of tea 
they put a pint of water, and frequently take 
the yolks of two new-laid eggs and beat them 
up with as much fine sugar as is sufficient for the 
tea, and stir all well together." 

A phrase occurring in many recipes in the Har- 
leian MSS. is : " Take faire zolks of eyren and the 
white, and drawe them through a streynour." 

In the Douce MS. directions are given for 
making the sops mentioned by early authors. 

" Take mylke and boyle it, and thanne tak 
yolkys of eyroun (eggs), ytryid (separated) fro 
the whyte, and hete it, but let it nowt boyle, 
and stere it well tyl it be somwhat thikke ; 
thanne caste therto salt and sugre, and kytte 



EGGS AS FOOD. 93 

fayre paynemaynnys in round soppys, and caste 
the soppys theron, and serve it forth for a 
potage." 

The Forme of Cury is the title of a collection 
of recipes made by the master cooks of Richard 
II. about 1390. Among these is the following: 

TREDURE. 

Take brede and grate it. Make a lyre (mix- 
ture) of raw ayrenn (eggs) and do thereto, 
safron and powder douce (allspice) and lye it 
up with gode broth, and make it as a cawdel 
and do thereto a lytel verjous. 

In another recipe this phrase is found : 

And if it be not in Lent, alye (mix) it with 
zolkes of eyren (eggs). 

The remaining recipes are taken from a MS. 
compiled early in the fourteenth century. 

CREM BOYLED. 

Take crem of cowe my Ike, and zolkes of egges, 
and bete horn wel togedur, and do hit in a pot, 



94 EGGS AS FOOD. 

and let hit boyle tyl hit be stondynge, and do 
therto sugur, and colour hit with saffron, and 
dresse hit forthe in leches, and plante therin 
flowres of borage, or of vyolet. 

BRUET OF EGGES. 

Take faire watur, and let hit boyle, then do 
therin butter and gobettes of chese, and let it 
sethe togedur ; take egges and wringe horn 
thurgh a streynour, and bete horn wel togedur 
and medel hit wel with verjous, and do hit in 
the pot, but let hit not boyle, and do thereto 
pouder and serve hit forthe. 

1326-1399. Early MS. 



Eggs were once thought to be hard to digest ; 
possibly this was the result of the articles with 
which they were combined. 

Dr. Arbuthnot, Pope's friend, said : 

"Eggs are perhaps the highest and most 

nourishing of all animal food, and the most 

indigestible." 



EGGS AS FOOD. 95 

Experiments of later date prove that an egg 
is usually digested sooner than a potato and quite 
as soon as beef or mutton. 

Hard-boiled eggs require 3 hours 30 minutes 



Soft " 


44 


3 


44 




Fried 


44 


3 


44 


30 


Roasted " 


44 


2 


44 


15 


Raw " 


44 


2 


44 




Raw (beaten) " 


44 


1 


44 


30 



That life can be sustained by so little nourish- 
ment as a single egg daily is proved by the 
experience of a German scholar who took refuge 
from a hostile enemy in a loft. A hen laid her 
daily egg for two weeks, and this was all his 
food, yet when the arm j had gone he had strength 
to reach home. 

A similar story is told of a refugee from the 
massacre of St. Bartholomew. 

Eggs are claimed to be promoters of longevity. 
Of the Duke of Newcastle, in the reign of 



96 EGGS AS FOOD. 

Charles I., it is said: " His supper consists of an 
egg and a draft of small beer. By this temper- 
ance he finds himself very healthful, and may 
yet live many years, being now seventy-three." 

Ericsson the inventor, whose work, continued 
to old age, was of the kind usually exhaustive 
of vital force, practised rigid abstemiousness. 

Laboring, at least twelve hours out of the 
twenty-four, his breakfast for each day of the 
year was two poached eggs. He adhered to 
this till almost the end of his busy life. 

Other men laboring with body and brain 
have found eggs very sustaining food. Weston, 
the pedestrian, while walking one hundred 
miles in twenty-two hours, consumed from six- 
teen to twenty raw eggs. 

Estimates based on experiments claim that 
with pork at ten cents per pound, and eggs at 
twenty-four cents per dozen, one bushel of corn 
will produce three dollars worth of eggs, and 
only one third as much pork. Add to this fact 
the disagreeable work necessary in the care of 
the pig and his conversion into pork, the scale 



EGGS AS FOOD. 97 

hangs heavy in favor of poultry rather than pig. 

If for every pig kept by private families, a 
flock of hens was substituted, there would be 
less patent medicine required, and a general 
improvement in the health. 

Without denying the merits of the pig, espe- 
cially his contribution to the bean-pot, may it not 
be true that if he who drinks beer, thinks beer, 
he who eats pig often acts pig ? 

The Jews, who taboo pork, are a remarkably 
healthy race. As a people they make great use 
of eggs, even the poorest giving them prefer- 
ence over other food. 

Many vegetarians allow themselves milk and 
eggs, and as a class are wonderfully free from 
illness. 

One of our best known poets, a country-bred 
man (Whittier) has said (Harper's Monthly, 
February, 188-) : 

" I think that is the reason why the present 
generation is not so strong as the former. It is 
owing to the way the parents lived, eating so 
much pork and potatoes." 



98 EGGS AS FOOD. 

A missionary to one of the islands of the 
Pacific, when urged to partake of native dainties, 
rather than refuse all such hospitality, always 
ventured to eat a boiled egg, since that could 
not fail to be clean inside. Other travelers have 
sought the same refuge. 

Some savage tribes think eggs unfit for food, 
and never dreamed of eating them until they 
saw the missionaries do so. In the Pacific, 
many islanders save eggs to sell to the ships, 
but never use them themselves. 

Mr. Drummond, in his Tropical Africa, says : 
" Eggs are never eaten by the natives, but are 
always set." 

Dr. M. L. Holbrook writes : " I have only 
just received a letter from a Hindoo who states 
that he does not remember to have ever eaten an 
egg." 

Pundita Ramabai, having been reared in a 
faith which does not allow the taking of life to 
supply food — or the destruction of the germ of 
the egg — though she has accepted Christian 



EGGS AS FOOD. 99 

teachings, cannot yet bring herself to eat meats 
or foods containing eggs. 

It has been said that " there is no egg of bird 
known, which is not good for food, or which 
could not be eaten by a Jiungry man." 

Fewer individuals have been known to have 
an antipathy for eggs than for most foods ; no 
honest appetite rejects them. 

Liebig asserted that the eggs of birds furnish 
the most complete nutriment, since they contain 
in fair proportion, all the elements needed to 
sustain life. 



100 KINDS AND QUALITIES OF EGGS. 




KINDS AND QUALITIES OF EGGS. 

j gk t ■• HOUGH they differ in flavor with 
the kind of bird and its food, their 
composition is similar. 

Like milk, eggs suffer in quality 
if the food of the animal is inferior. 

Pale yolks are generally caused by lack of 
proper food. Hens fed on corn produce bright 
yellow yolks. 

If hens are fed on fish the eggs will be strong- 
flavored and poor. 

" Choose eggs oblong, remember they'll be 

found, 
Of sweeter taste and whiter than the round." 

Horace. 

The recipes given further on apply mainly to 
hens' eggs, but others may be substituted with 
due regard to differences in size or weight and 
flavor. 






KINDS AND QUALITIES OF EGGS. 101 

Ducks' eggs are rather richer and usually 
cook quicker than those of turkey and geese. 

The plover's eggs are considered a delicacy, 
and are consequently high priced. Swans' eggs 
are occasionally used. 

A single ostrich egg is quite a feast, since its 
contents equal those of twenty-eight hens' eggs. 
It requires an hour's cooking, and then is said 
to be very good eating. 

The shell, which holds three pints, is often 
bored and used for decorative purposes. 

Albatross eggs are eaten by the aborigines in 
New Zealand. 

The gathering of eggs of sea-birds is a regu- 
lar business, having curious laws and customs, 
and requires much courage, as it is full of dan- 
ger. These eggs are usually strong, and con- 
tain much oil, and are only suited to vigorous 
stomachs. The eggs of the guillemot, stork and 
cormorant are often eaten. 

The larger the egg the larger the bird is a 



KINDS AND QUALITIES OF EGGS. 

general truth ; the apteryx of New Zealand is, 
however, an exception. Birds which quit the 
nest soon after hatching are more fully de- 
veloped when hatched, hence come from a larger 

egg- 

That birds have existed whose eggs were of 
enormous size has been proved by the discovery 
of the shells. 

The eggs of the moa, an ancient bird of New 
Zealand, were very large ; and those of the 
Aepyornis maximus were equal to about one 
hundred and fifty of those of the common fowl, 
and had a long diameter of over a foot. 

Bird's nesting is allowable in the interest of 
science, and collections of eggs increase in value 
as the species decrease. 

This is shown by the price brought by a sin- 
gle egg of the great auk, which was sold in 
London in 1888 for 81,100. 

Only sixty-seven specimens of these eggs are 
known to exist, though two hundred years ago 
the birds were plenty. 



QUEER EGGS. 103 




QUEER EGGS. 

HE Hottentot makes a soup of locust 
eggs, and in Siam ants' eggs are 
served with curry. 

Eggs of reptiles, those of the lizard, boa con- 
strictor, crocodile, alligator and turtle are also 
eaten ; the latter is considered a great luxury. 

Dr. Livingston, in his Explorations of the 
Zambezi, says of crocodiles' eggs: 

" In taste they resemble hens' eggs, with per- 
haps a smack of custard, and would be as highly 
relished by whites as blacks were it not for 
their unsavory origin in man-eaters." 

A dainty not generally known is the sea-egg ; 
that of the sea-urchin or strongylocentrotus. 

In this connection may be mentioned the edi- 
ble birds-nests of Java and Sumatra. The sea- 
swallows' nests which hang on the rocks like 
watch-pockets. 



104 QUEEB EGGS. 

They are about the size of a goose egg, of 
a thin fibrous substance like isinglass, of a 
slightly reddish color 

It is a great labor to clean them for market. 
When dry they are brittle and wrinkled, and 
sell for twice their weight in silver. 

They are served floating in a soup like lumps 
of jelly. 

Bad eggs are so bad that they are rarely used, 
and disease is not likely to come from them as 
sometimes results from the use of the flesh of 
diseased animals. 

The Chinese have a fondness for half-hatched 
eggs, and travelers have come across other peo- 
ple who considered eggs of extreme age as 
great delicacies. " 




EASTER GAMES. 



SOME EGG BEC1PES. 105 



SOME EGG RECIPES. 

S^IBH^PHE accompanying recipes are intended 
SBV» to be suggestive as well as helpful 
taK? ^ or orc ^ nar y h° ine life. 
For more elaborate preparations 
reference may be made to the standard French 
cook-books. 

BOILED EGGS. 

"There is always a best way of doing every- 
thing, if it be to boil an egg." 

Emerson. 

Yet this which seems the simplest of all cook- 
ery, is rarely done in the best way. Usually 
eggs are plunged into a kettle where the water 
is kept rapidly boiling for three minutes ; then 
the yolk is raw while the white is overdone. 

The white will be better digested and the 
yolks more evenly cooked if the eggs are not 
boiled at all. 



106 SOME EGG BEC1PES. 

Either put into cold water and heat gradually, 
or into boiling water and remove it from the 
fire. 

W. M. Williams, in his Chemistry of Cooking, 
says on this subject: 

" Cook one in the orthodox manner by keep- 
ing it in boiling water three and a half minutes. 

Then place the other in this same boiling 
water, but instead of keeping the saucepan over 
the fire, place it on the hearth and leave it there 
with the egg in it about ten minutes more. 

A comparison of results will show that the 
egg that has been cooked at a temperature of 
more than thirty degrees below the boiling-point 
of water is tender and delicate, evenly so 
throughout, no part being hard while another 
part is semi-raw and slimy." 

CUSTARD EGGS. 

Put in cold water, and place the dish over a 
quick fire. When the water boils the eggs will 
be ready to serve. 

The white will mix readily with the yolk as 



SOME EGG BECIPES. 107 

in custard. Dr. Edward Smith says : " Perhaps 
the most agreeable form is the flaky state, in 
which the egg may be obtained when placed in 
cold water and eaten very soon after the water 
has been boiled." 



HARD-BOILED EGGS. 

Always cook for twenty minutes, then the 
yolk will be dry and mealy, not tough and 
gluey as when boiled for a shorter period. Put 
in cold water, that the shells may be removed 
easily. 

STEAMED EGGS. 

Cook in an ordinary steamer for five minutes, 
more or less, to suit the taste. They may also 
be broken into buttered cups and then steamed, 
but that is really a form of poached eggs. 

For an invalid beat light, season, and steam 
only till well warmed through. 



108 SOME EGG BECIPES. 



EGGS A LA COQUE. 

Are simply eggs boiled in the usual manner, 
and generally eaten from the shell. 



Eggs are often boiled at the table, but the 
average American cannot wait for that, and 
would sooner take his chances with an over or 
underdone egg. An egg-boiler consists of an 
egg-shaped cup, to contain the water which is 
heated by an alcohol lamp beneath ; a movable 
frame, with rings like a caster, holds the eggs. 

The freshness of eggs for boiling should be 
undoubted, but when one or two days old they 
are better than if just laid, as a part of the 
water will have evaporated and the white will 
coagulate sooner. 

When dropped suddenly into boiling water 
egg-shells crack like glass. If a wire holder is 
not available roll them gently from a spoon, or 
put the eggs in the kettle and pour the water 
slowly over them. 






SOME EGG BECIPES. 109 

If the shells are slightly chipped when taken 
from the kettle, the steam will escape and the 
eggs stop cooking sooner ; otherwise the longer 
they wait the harder they grow. It is, however, 
best to serve them in a warm dish under a folded 
napkin. 

How to eat a boiled egg is often a matter of 
discussion. Byron is said to have remarked 
that " the greatest trial to a woman's beauty is 
the ungraceful act of eating eggs." 

Dean Swift tells us that the Lilliputian na- 
tion declared war against Blefuscu because its 
inhabitants refused to break their eggs at the 
end, which the Dame Fashion of Lilliput de- 
creed was proper. 

Our English cousins say " always eat a boiled 
egg from the shell; any other method greatly 
detracts from the rich flavor of this nutritious 
food." 

This may be true, but since to do it in a civ- 
ilized manner, a special set of egg-spoons is nec- 
essary, is it not better for each family to adjust 
the matter according to its own convenience ? 



110 SOME EGG BECIPES. 



POACHED EGGS. 

" Egges well poched are better than roasted. 
They (egges) be most holesome whan they be 
poched." Sir T. Elyot. 

" So they be potched or rare boyled, they 
need no preparation or mixture." 

Francis Bacon. 

" A couple of poached eggs with a few, fine, 
dry fried collops of pure bacon, are not bad for 
breakfast or to begin a meal." 
Sir Kenelm Digby. — Closet of Cookery, 1669. 

Eggs cooked in this fashion are sometimes 
called dropped eggs, while scrambled eggs are 
often said to be poached. 

The word poach comes from the same root 
as pocket, meaning literally to pierce or invade. 
Hence a poached egg is one where the shell is 
pierced and the egg taken out before boiling. 

" Some outlandish bishop, not aware that he 
had finished his poached eggs, went on calmly 



SOME EGG BECIPES. Ill 

sopping his bread in the water where they had 
been boiled." 

Have ready a shallow pan nearly full of boil- 
ing salted water. A little vinegar or lemon 
juice and salt in the water help to harden the 
albumen and keep the egg in good shape. 
Muffin rings set in the water tend to the same 
results, and there are egg-poachers with per- 
forated cups of fancy shapes. 

Break the eggs singty ; if the yolk breaks 
reserve for other uses. Stir the water briskly 
and slip the egg quickly into the eddy thus 
made, and continue to stir till the outside of 
the egg has hardened. 

Dip the water up with a spoon and pour over 
the egg until a film forms over the yolk. Let 
the pan stand for two minutes where the water 
will simmer but not boil ; when the white is firm 
drain carefully on a skimmer, and serve hot. 

Poached eggs should not be cooked until 
hard. If rightly done, this is the most delicate 
way to cook eggs, as there will be none of the 
taste of lime sometimes noticed when they are 



112 SOME EGG BECIPES. 

boiled in the shell. Eggs served in this way 
are also attractive to the eye. 

The famous Dr. Kitchener saj^s : 

" The beauty of a Poached Egg is for the 
Yolk to be seen blushing through the White, 
which should only be just sufficiently hardened 
to form a transparent veil for the egg.' 5 

Eggs may also be poached in milk, soup-stock 
or gravy, which is afterward poured over the 
toast on which they are to be served. 

After thus cooking, poached eggs may be 
served in many different ways : 

1. On rounds of plain buttered toast. 

2. Around a dish of minced salt fish with 
milk gravy. 

3. With cooked spinach or asparagus. 

4. On toast, first spread with any minced 
meat or fish warmed in gravy. 

5. In stewed tomatoes ; the contrasting colors 
giving a pretty effect. 

6. On slices of ham or bacon, boiled, fried or 
broiled. 



SOME EGG BECIPES. 113 

7. Spanish fashion, on boiled rice ; allow one 
tablespoonful of raw rice for each egg. 

8. On top of a fish-ball place a poached egg. 

9. Serve in clear soups. 

10. Toast spread with cheese prepared as 
Welsh Rarebit, with a poached egg on top, is 
known as Golden Buck. 

A Yorkshire rarebit is the same, with the ad- 
dition of a few bits of bacon. 

Poached egg received also the names of various 
sauces which are sometimes served with them. 

WHIPPED EGGS. 

Break into hot water, boil two minutes, pour 
off the water, beat the eggs thoroughly, season 
and serve on toast. 

EGGS IN BALLS. 

Stir the boiling water till it whirls rapidly, 
drop in the egg already broken into a cup, and 
stir the water around it until the egg is cooked. 
Do but one at a time. 



114 SOME EGG BEC1PES. 



EGG KROMESKYS AND FRITTERS. 

Dip eggs already poached in a seasoned batter 
and fry for one minute in deep fat. The out- 
side will be crisp and the inside soft. 

Or dip the eggs in crumbs, or inclose in a 
crust of mashed potato, and fry or saute in a 
little fat. 

BAKED EGGS. 

These are half-way between poaching and 
frying, and are also known as shirred eggs. 

(Eufs sur la Plat, etc. etc. 

Muffin rings, fanc}^ tin dishes, paper cases, 
etc., are used to cook these in, but best of all, is 
a shallow earthen dish, just large enough for 
one egg, as they are to be served in the dish in 
which they are cooked. The dish is buttered, 
the egg then broken into it, without breaking 
the yolk. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and 
bake just long enough to set the white. 



SOME EGG BECIPES. 115 



Variations. 

1. Put a bit of butter or a teaspoonful of 
cream on top. 

2. In the dish put a spoonful of gravy, sprinkle 
the egg with crumbs. 

3. Season with a speck of nutmeg. 

4. Line the dishes with grated cheese, chopped 
meat, parsley, or crumbs, before putting in the 
eggs, and turn out before serving. The Ger- 
mans call these overturned eggs. 

5. Cover a plate or the little dishes with a 
mixture of cold chopped meat and crumbs, sea- 
soned and moistened. Make hollows for each 
egg and bake till they are done and the crust is 
crisp. 

6. Swiss Eggs. Put a thin slice of cheese 
under each, and sprinkle with crumbs and 
cheese. 

7. Egg Nests. Beat whites of eggs stiff, pile 
lightly on slices of toast, then drop the yolks 
which were left in the shells in a hollow in each, 
and bake. 



116 SOME EGG BECIPES. 



FRIED EGGS. 

This is one of the oldest fashions of serving 
eggs. In the Piers Ploughman, we read of 
" Egges yfryed with grece," among other " sun- 
dry metes." 

They may be fried with ham, or bacon, in 
butter, olive or other oils. The cotton seed lard 
now in the market, is one of the best mediums 
for frying anything. 

The frying-pan should contain hot fat enough 
to nearly cover the eggs. Break them simply 
into a cup and slip gently into the fat. Do not 
attempt to turn them, but dip the fat over. 

Sometimes eggs are beaten, and strained 
through a coarse colander into hot fat, then 
drained and served on toast or with bacon. 

Beurre Noir, or brow T ned butter, may be served 
with either baked or poached eggs, but oftener 
with fried. Add more if necessary to that used 
for frying, let it brown, and add an equal quan- 
tity of vinegar. Let it boil away a little, stir 
in some chopped parsley and pour over the eggs. 






SOME EGG BECIPES. 117 

Eggs cooked in fat are indigestible, because 
the high temperature of the fat — three hundred 
to four hundred degrees — hardens the albumen 
so the digestive fluids cannot penetrate it. 

EOASTED EGGS. 

" The vulgar boil, the learned roast an egg." 

Alexander Pope. 

This was probably the original way of cook- 
ing eggs, as of meats. It was the Celtic method, 
and Martial mentions it as common among the 
Romans. 

People fortunate enough to live in camp have 
discovered anew this delightful way of serving 
eggs. A soft, velvet-like substance results, 
which cannot be obtained by any other method of 
cooking. Unless the shells are slightly pricked, 
a sudden explosion may surprise the watchers 
round the camp-fire. 

The large ends are placed down, the whole 
covered with leaves, ashes and coals heaped on 
top, and left there for ten minutes. 



118 SOME EGG BECIPES. 

Dr. King, in his Art of Cookery, says : 
" I wish the world were thoroughly informed 
of two truths concerning eggs ; how incompar- 
ably better roasted eggs are than boiled, and 
never to eat any butter with eggs in the shell." 

SCRAMBLED EGGS. 

By this method the white and yolk are 
mingled less than in omelet and more than in 
poaching. The result is a mottled mass of 
white and yellow ; similar mixtures are also 
known as rumbled and coddled eggs. 

Put in a saucepan one tablespoonful of butter 
for six eggs ; break the eggs in, one by one, add 
one half cup milk and a little salt and pepper. 
Stir until well thickened. Serve on toast, or 
heap in a mound, on a hot platter. This may be 
prepared at the table by a chafing-dish. 

Variations. 

1. Use gravy or soup stock instead of milk. 

2. Add one tablespoonful grated cheese or 
chopped parsley. 



SOME EGG BE CI PES. 119 

3. Use stewed tomato in place of milk ; the 
red, white and yellow give a fine effect. 

4. Travelers in the East remember with 
pleasure a way in which eggs are served there. 
It is unlike either poaching, frying, or scram- 
bling, but resembles all. A thick pottery dish is 
placed over the charcoal fire to warm through, 
and butter, pepper and salt are placed in it. 
The eggs are dropped in, cooked slowly, with 
little stirring, and served very hot. 

SOUPS. 

Eggs, at first thought, have less connection 
with soups than with most other articles of 
food, but here, too, they are needed. 

The Germans make sweet egg soups, some- 
thing like a warm custard; their nudels or 
noodles require eggs for lightness. 

When eggs are used to thicken soups it 
should be just before serving, as they require lit- 
tle cooking. Beat them, add a little warm soup, 
then strain into the whole, stirring constantly. 



120 SOME EGG BECIPES. 



TO CLEAR SOUPS. 

Allow the shell and white of one egg to every 
quart of stock. Remove all fat, add more 
seasoning if desired, and beat the egg thor- 
oughly with the stock while cold. Heat gradu- 
ally, stirring, to prevent the egg from settling 
until it boils, then leave it to boil five to ten 
minutes ; till a scum rises. Add a little cold 
water, strain carefully through a cloth and wire 
strainer. 

Poached eggs are often served in such soups. 

NOODLES. 

Work flour into a beaten egg till it forms a 
stiff dough. Roll out very thin, cut in strips, 
and cook in the soup. Or, grate the dough, let 
it dry as it falls, then use in soups. 

Kaiser soup. — Beat three eggs; add one cup 
rich, clear soup, season with salt and spice, if 
liked, strain into a buttered mould. Cover and 
steam thirty minutes, or till firm. When cold 






SOME EGG BECIPES. 121 

cut in slices, then in fancy shapes, and serve in 
clear soup. 

This is also known as Savory Custard and 
Ro3 r ale Paste. 

Egg balls, — Make a paste of four yolks of 
hard-boiled eggs, season and moisten with raw 
egg. Shape in balls the size of a marble, boil 
or fry, and serve in soups. 

Whole hard-boiled yolks are also served in 
soups. 

OMELETS. 

" I've heard about a pleasant land 
Where omelets grow on trees." 

Tom Hood. 

From the days when Sarah, Duchess of Marl- 
borough, had to prepare the omelets to suit her 
husband's taste, to the time an American senator 
finds pleasure in his skill in the preparation of 
this dish, the omelet has been considered difficult 
of preparation. 



122 SOME EGG BECIPES. 

It is told of Napoleon L, in Abbott's History, 
that attempting to make an omelet he failed in 
the cooking and exclaimed : 

" I have given myself credit for more exalted 
talents than I possess." 

Sir Hemy Thompson declares the omelet " to 
be one of the most delicious and nutritious pro- 
ducts of culinaiy art, with the further merit that 
it can be more rapidly prepared than any other 
dish." 

The name derived from the French words, 
ceufs meles — eggs mingled — shows the nation- 
ality of the dish. 

The omelet is a combination of eggs and 
milk, well seasoned and cooked in butter ; to it 
may be added small quantities of meat, fish, 
vegetables, or fruit ; of little value by them- 
selves, but which increase its substance and 
savoriness. 

These various materials which give special 
names to omelets are usually cooked separately, 
and are spread over or around the omelet after 
cooking, and just before serving. 



SOME EGG BECIPES. 123 

A Soufflee (literally puffed up) is an omelet 
usually baked, and to which some fruit or jelly 
is added. 

A Fondu (meaning something poured) is a 
sort of omelet in which cheese is used for 
flavoring. 

There are really but two ways of making 
omelet ; the French omelet, when the ) r olks 
and whites of the eggs are beaten together — 
the Puffy omelet when they are beaten 
separately. 

It is better to cook several small omelets than 
one large one, because of danger of burning and 
trouble in turning. If for a side dish, one egg 
for each person will be sufficient, and two or 
three eggs are all that should be cooked at once. 

If the eggs be separated, beat the yolks till 
lighter colored, and the whites till stiff and dry. 
Many cooks prefer to use more yolks than 
whites in their omelets. 



124 SOME EGG BECIPES. 






When yolks and whites are together, too much 
beating is said to make the omelet watery ; but 
the parts must be well mingled, not show as in 
scrambled eggs. 

The beating must be continued until the 
omelet is put in the pan, or the air which has 
been beaten in will escape. 

Some cooks use eggs alone, but the omelet 
will be more creamy if milk be used in the pro- 
portion of one tablespoonf ul to each egg. Water, 
soup-stock or gravy may be substituted for the 
milk. 

As flour and cornstarch require more cooking 
than egg^ they should not be used unless pre- 
viously cooked in the milk. Stale bread-crumbs 
where the starch has already been cooked is a 
better thickening if any be desired. 

Authorities differ as to seasoning an omelet 
before or after cooking; some claim that salt 
makes it flabby if added before. 






SOME EGG BECIPES. 125 

A speck of salt and pepper may be safely 
used at first and more added later. 

Beat the eggs, add the milk — if the whites 
are beaten separately, fold lightly into yolks and 
milk — salt and pepper, and pour at once into 
the pan in which is one teaspoonful of hot 
butter. 

Cooked in a large, cold pan over a slow fire 
a leathery mass results, unworthy the name of 
omelet. 

A clear fire, a smooth pan, clean, dry and hot, 
are essential. To insure perfect smoothness 
some cooks recommend heating a little fat in 
the pan, then pouring it out and wiping the pan 
dry before putting in the butter for the omelet. 
Others say never use an omelet pan for an}- thing 
else. 

Special pans are manufactured for this pur- 
pose, but any small, smooth pan will do. 

If a large pan must be used it should be so 
tipped and held that the omelet may cook upon 
one side instead of spreading thinly over the 
whole pan. 



126 SOME EGG BECIFES. 

Use only enough butter to keep from sticking. 

The albumen of the eggs begins to harden at 
once on the edges, and this part may be drawn 
to one side with a fork, or a knife may be run 
under the center, raising the cooked portion 
and giving the remainder a chance to run 
underneath. 

The pan should be gently shaken meantime 
to prevent the omelet from adhering anywhere. 

If necessary the top may be hardened by 
placing the pan in a hot oven for one minute. 

As soon as all is firm — in three to five minutes 
— roll over and over or spread with the cooked 
meat or vegetables, and slipping a knife under 
fold one side upon the other. Then turn upside 
down on a warm platter and serve immediately. 

Better the family wait for the omelet than 
the omelet wait for the family. 

Omelets may also be baked in a buttered pud- 
ding dish. 

To an omelet of two to four eggs, any of the 
following ingredients may be added, either be- 



S03IE EGG BECIPES. 127 

fore or after cooking, in the proportion of from 
one to three tablespoonfuls. 

Anchovy. — The prepared paste is spread thinly 
over the omelet before folding. 

Apple. — The apples are cooked, sifted, sweet- 
ened, spiced ; one half cupful is then spread over 
the omelet, or the eggs are beaten with it and 
the mixture is baked. 

Asparagus. — Fold in the tips of cooked 
asparagus. 

Bacon. — Cut cooked bacon in strips or dice 
and mix with the eggs before frying. 

Bread. — Soak one half cup of crumbs in one 
half cup of milk, beat with two eggs, fry or bake. 

Caviare. — Use like anchovy. 

Cauliflower. — Like asparagus. 

Celery. — Cook and use in the same fashion. 



128 SOME EGG RECIPES. 

Cheese. — Parmesan or Gruyere are best ; any- 
dry cheese may be grated or chopped and one 
to three tablespoonfuls added to the omelet be- 
fore or after cooking. 

Chicken. — May be chopped or cut in small 
pieces. 

Clams. — Should be chopped. 

Corn. — Sweet corn pulp or canned corn 
chopped fine, can be added before cooking the 
omelet. 

Creamy Omelet. — Cook together one tea- 
spoonful each of flour or butter, gradually add 
one half cup of milk, and when partly cool add 
beaten yolks of two eggs, seasoning, and then the 
stiff whites. Fry or bake. 

Fish. — One half cup of minced fish, salt or 
fresh; warm in milk or cream sauce; serve 
around the omelet. 

Garlic. — Rub the frying pan with the garlic 
before putting in the omelet. 



SOJIE EGG RECIPES. 129 

Ham. — Chop cold-boiled, broiled or fried ham 
very fine ; sprinkle over the omelet before it is 
quite done. 

Herbs. — For seasoning use a speck of sweet 
herbs, powdered thyme, marjoram, etc. 

Indian. — One tablespoonful of cooked rice 
and one teaspoonful of curry mixed to a paste 
with cream and put inside the omelet. 

Italian. — One tablespoonful of macaroni 
cooked and cut in small pieces, one teaspoonful 
of grated cheese, one tablespoonful of strained 
tomato. Heat, season with salt, cayenne and 
nutmeg and roll in the omelet. 

Jelly. — Before folding spread with one table- 
spoonful of jelly. Dust the outside with pow- 
dered sugar. 

Kidney. — Cook the kidneys, slice and season ; 
when the omelet is ready fold them inside it. 

Lobster. — Cut small or chop, fold in or serve 
around the omelet to get the effect of the con- 
trasting colors. 



130 SOME EGG BECIPES. 

Macaroni. — Into the raw omelet stir two 
tablespoonf uls of cooked macaroni ; bake or fry 
as usual. 

Macedoine. — In the ordinary omelet fold a 
mixture of carrot, peas, beans, beets or turnips 
cut small, cooked, seasoned and warmed in but- 
ter or cream sauce. 

Onion. — Use a pan in which an onion has 
been fried. If more flavor is wanted garnish 
with the fried onion. 






Oyster. — Add chopped or whole oysters to 
the omelet before it is cooked, or parboil and 
drain them and add just before folding. 

Parsley. — Put one tablespoonful of chopped 
parsley in before cooking. 

Peach. — Rub three ripe peaches through a 
sieve, sweeten, add the yolks of three eggs, then 
the stiff whites and bake. 

Peas. — Use green peas as a garnish around 
the omelet. 



SOME EGG RECIPES. 131 

Potato. — Fry the potatoes, and serve in and 
around the omelet. Or, mix one half cup of 
mashed potato with three beaten eggs. Bake 
or fry. 

Preserves. — Use any preserve, like jelly 
omelet. 

Raspberry. — Make like Peach Omelet, using 
one cup of raspberry pulp. 

Salmon. — Add two tablespoonfuls of minced 
salmon before or after cooking. 

Sardine. — Like salmon, and garnish with 
whole sardines. 

Sausage. — Add one tablespoonful of crum- 
bled sausage before cooking, and garnish with 
whole ones. 

Strawberry. — Fold in mashed strawberries, 
garnish with whole ones and sprinkle with pow- 
dered sugar. 



132 SOME EGG BECIPES. 

Shrimp. — Place picked shrimps in the center, 
garnish with whole ones. 

Sorrel. — Boil and sift the sorrel, place in 
small mounds around or fold inside the omelet. 

Souffle. — T. J. Murrey, in Puddings and 
Dainty Desserts, says : " Beat separately the 
whites of four and the yolks of two eggs ; whisk 
the whites into the yolks ; add a tablespoonf ul of 
sugar and a few drops of vanilla extract, turn it 
out on a shallow tin or plate, and bake ten or 
twelve minutes. Serve immediately on the dish 
in which it was baked." 

The secret is to beat the eggs thoroughly, and 
serve the moment it is taken from the oven. 

Spinach. — Before cooking the omelet, add 
one tablespoonful of boiled and sifted spinach. 

Sweetbread. — Cook the sweetbread, and pre- 
pare like kidneys. 

Tomato. — Use strained tomato in place of 
milk. Garnish with sliced tomatoes. 

Tongue. — Fold in boiled tongue chopped fine. 



SOME EGG RECIPES. 133 

Traveler's Omelet. — Spread with chopped 
meat, roll like a jelly cake, cut in slices and put 
# in sandwiches. 

Truffles. — Like mushrooms. 

Vermicelli. — Like macaroni. 

WAYS OF SERVING HARD-BOILED EGGS. 

There are many side dishes, of which hard- 
boiled eggs are the foundation, suitable for 
breakfast and lunch. 

Such different names have been applied to 
dishes which may only differ in a single minor 
ingredient, that no names are given here. 

Any fruit, vegetable, meat or fish that may 
be used with eggs for omelets can be combined 
with hard-boiled egg to produce quite a dif- 
ferent effect. 

For convenience we will first consider how to 
serve the eggs in their original shape. 



134 SOME EGG BECIPES. 

The eggs are to be boiled twenty minutes ; 
those left from breakfast can be re-cooked. Then, 
if covered at once with cold water, sudden con- 
traction will make the shell come off easily 
when broken. 

STUFFED EGGS. 

Cut in halves, cross or lengthwise, without 
breaking the whites, scoop out the yolks and 
rub them to a paste. Moisten with melted but- 
ter, olive oil, gravy, cream sauce, stock or raw 
egg. Of minced meat, fish, cheese, truffles or 
mushrooms, etc., add as much as there is of 
the egg paste. Season highly with salt, pep- 
per, mustard, onion or curry, etc. Mix all well 
together. Fill the whites again and press 
together. 

The whites may be dug out to hold still more 
of the force-meat. If there is any of it left the 
eggs may be covered, rolled in raw egg and 
crumbs and fried. Or the force-meat may be 
piled in the center of a dish and the eggs ar- 
ranged upon it; or it can be made into little 
balls to serve with the eggs. 



SOME EGG BECIPES. 135 

Stuffed eggs are served hot with various 
sauces, or cold with lettuce and dressing as a 
salad. 

For picnics twist each egg in a fringed square 
of white tissue paper. 

SCOTCH EGGS. 

Cook together one third cup of milk and one 
third cup of stale crumbs, add one cup of lean 
ham chopped fine, and one raw beaten egg; mix 
well. Cover whole or stuffed hard-boiled eggs 
with the mixture. 

Fry them, cut in quarters or slices, and serve 
cold for lunch or picnics. 

EGG DUMPLINGS. 

(Old Recipe.) Wrap hard-boiled eggs in puff 
paste and fry them. 

NUREMBERG EGGS. 

(German Recipe.) Shell hard-boiled eggs, 
dip in batter, fry brown in butter. Dip again, 



136 SOME EGG BECIPES. 

and fry again, and so on till it becomes a large 
ball. Serve with sauce. 

EGG BASKETS. 

Cut a slice from each end of an egg^ then 
cut in halves crosswise. Prepare the yolks as 
for stuffed eggs. Fill the whites again even 
full, and place a cover of pickled beet on top ; 
or, make balls of the force-meat, put in the bas- 
kets, and stick a sprig of parsley in the top. 
Serve like stuffed eggs. 

HARD-BOILED EGGS SLICED OR CHOPPED. 

1. Scalloped Eggs (Eggs Au Gratiri). — Slice 
six or eight hard-boiled eggs, put in a pudding- 
dish with one pint of sauce made with cream or 
soup-stock, and seasoned with salt, pepper and 
parsley. One or two tablespoonfuls of grated 
cheese is often put in the sauce. Sprinkle with 
buttered crumbs and brown in the oven. 

2. Instead of cheese use chopped onion. 

3. Put sliced eggs and oysters in alternate 
layers, and cover with plain cream sauce. 



SOME EGG BECIPES. 137 

4. Add a dash of curry to the sauce and com- 
bine with rice already cooked. 

5. Slice the eggs, dip each piece in egg and 
crumbs and fry. 

6. Warm chopped eggs in a rich sauce ; serve 
in puff paste shells. 

7. Lyonnaise. — Fry a chopped onion in but- 
ter, add whites of eggs chopped fine ; when hot 
put on a platter and garnish with the yolks. 

8. To one pint of cream sauce add the chopped 
whites of six eggs ; season with salt and pepper, 
pour over slices of toast. Rub the hard yolks 
through a strainer over the top. 

9. Sandwiches. — Chop, butter and season the 
eggs, and while still warm spread slices of bread 
with the mixture and press them together. 



GARNISHES. 

G-olden Rain. — The yolk of hard-boiled 
eggs rubbed through a strainer, and left just as 
it falls over salads or fish or meat, gives a pleas- 
ing effect. 



138 SOME EGG BECIPES. 

Egg Daisies. — Cut the white of hard-boiled 
eggs in strips and arrange like the daisy petals 
on the edges of a platter, and place a little mound 
of the sifted yolk for the center. 

EGGS FOR INVALIDS. 

A well-known physician says that many lives 
are lost by starvation, owing to an over-estimate 
of the nutritive value of beef-tea and meat 
juices, but that " There is no good substitute 
for milk and eggs." 

An English physician adds this word: "In 
cases of depression, where disordered working 
of the brain tends to exhaust the strength, I 
rely more and more on milk and eggs made into 
liquid custards. Sixteen eggs daily are given 
with good results." 

The egg has been said to be " A maximum of 
nutrition requiring a minimum of digestive 
force." 

The white of the egg is constipating in effect, 
the yolk laxative ; the latter is considered help- 



SOME EGG BECIPES. 139 

ful in jaundice and similar disorders on account 
of the oil it contains, while the white is useful 
in diseases opposite in nature. 

The egg is now considered valuable in typhus 
and typhoid fevers, dysentery and similar dis- 
orders. Taken raw it forms a slight coating 
over the stomach and other organs, and by its 
soothing qualities reduces inflammation. On the 
same principle the white of the egg beaten with 
a little sugar and water has been recommended 
for children with irritable stomachs. 



Nothing will sooner relieve a feeling of ex- 
haustion than a raw egg beaten in a glass of 
milk, and sweetened and seasoned to the taste. 
Such a drink furnishes more real energy than 
tea or alcoholic beverages, and without their 
evil effects ; many a tired woman would be bet- 
ter for it. 

Eggs may also be served in tea, coffee, lemon- 
ade or hot broth in the same fashion. 



140 SOME EGG BECIPES. 

Physicians object to excessive beating of eggs 
for invalids, since if much air be mingled in 
them it may give rise to wind in the stomach ; 
but if slightly beaten the solidity of the egg 
being broken the gastric juice can work upon it 
more free.ly. 

Any person who cannot take milk may sub- 
stitute coffee, tea or broth. 

The following drinks are suitable for invalids 
or tired persons who call themselves well. 



EGGNOG PLAIN. 

Beat white and yolk together or separately, 
sweeten and flavor to the taste. Add one half 
to one cup cold or warm milk or boiling water. 

Either white or yolk alone will often be more 
acceptable and digest sooner than if taken to- 
gether. Eggs become difficult of digestion in 
proportion as they lose their freshness. 






SOME EGG BECIPES. 141 



EGG MILK. 

(Lait de Poule.} Beat a fresh egg with a 
speck of salt, pour into one pint of boiling milk, 
stirring all the time, and take hot. 

EGG buoth. 

Stir a beaten egg into one cup of hot meat 
broth; drink while warm. 

EGG COFFEE. 

Beat one yolk with one teaspoonful of 
sugar, pour on one cup of boiling coffee, stirring 
as it thickens. Add cream if preferred, but 
eggs make a very good substitute for milk or 
cream whenever it cannot be obtained. 

Egg Tea is made in the same way. 

CUSTAKDS. 

Use four to six eggs to one quart of milk, 
sweeten and flavor to taste. 

The eggs require only so much beating as 



142 SOME EGG BECIPES. 

will break up the particles of the egg that it 
may readily mix with the milk. 

The best cooks prefer to use yolks only in 
making custards ; in that case double the num- 
ber of eggs and use the whites for other things. 

It is an easy matter to mix custards, but they 
are often spoiled by over cooking. 

Custards will cook where water would not 
boil. If the applied heat be greater than that of 
boiling water, or be too long continued, the solid 
and liquid constituents of the eggs and milk will 
separate — the custard wheys or curdles, and 
becomes unpalatable and indigestible. 

SHAKER FISH AND EGG. 

Heat in a common saucepan one pint of new 
milk, or thin cream if you have it. Season with 
salt, and let it simmer for a few minutes. Re- 
move a portion of this gravy into another vessel 
and dissolve therein a small piece of butter. 
Into the saucepan slice a layer of boiled potatoes, 
making the slices say three eighths of an inch 
thick ; to this add a little salt codfish, boiled 
and picked very fine, then a layer of boiled eggs, 



SOME EGG BEC1PES. 143 

each egg cut in four or five slices. Alternate with 
another layer of potato, fish and egg, until the 
desired quantity is obtained. Now pour on 
the reserved gravy and , cover over for a few 
minutes, or until ready to place upon the table. 
When dished up, place upon the top some of the 
sliced eggs. The eggs should be boiled six 
minutes, and then immediately immersed in 
cold water. This prevents them from becoming 
too hard, and also toughens the shell, thus 
rendering it more easily removed. For four 
persons, about eight eggs and eight medium- 
sized potatoes are needed. This quantity will 
require of salt fish, about three tablespoonfuls, 
when nicely prepared. This is really a delectable 
dish. 

EGG APPLES. 

" Boil the eggs hard. Remove the shells one 
by one, while they are under the water ; press 
both ends softly between the first finger and 
thumb till it assumes the shape of an apple. 
Color each slightly with red, or make little 
spots to simulate the appearance of an apple. 



144 



SOME EGG BECIPES. 



If real apple leaves or stems cannot be obtained, 
get some other and decorate with them. 

Pile them in a dainty dish and place it on the 
table and it will make a pretty display of un- 
timely apples, pleasing to the eyes, and satisfying 
to the taste." 

Miss Kin Kato, of Japan. 



BEATING EGGS. 145 




BEATING EGGS. 

HILE many recipes might appropri- 
P; ately be given here for foods where 
egg is the most important ingredient, 
lack of space prevents ; but these 
points should be remembered in all doughs made 
light by eggs. 

The peculiar viscidity of albumen makes the 
egg an important factor in cookery. If carefully 
beaten, it catches and holds for a time a large 
quantity of air, and if cooked at once doughs 
are made light. 

The pound and sponge cakes and batter 
puddings of our grandmothers had nothing but 
eggs to give them the delicate lightness rarely 
seen now. From the higher price of eggs and a 
lack of knowledge about their use, baking 
powders have largely superseded them, and our 
food and stomachs have suffered in proportion. 
There are two objects in beating eggs ; to 



146 BEATING EGGS. 

mingle the two parts of the egg, and to incor- 
porate air wi£h it. 

For custards, etc., the first is all that is 
required. For cakes more beating is necessary 
to accomplish the latter. 

A variety of beaters are in the market, all 
doing the work in a more or less perfect way. 
But many of the best cooks, except for a large 
quantity of eggs, prefer a knife or fork or 
simple whip to the more elaborate machines. 

To gain the greatest possible amount of air, 
yolks and whites must be separated. 

The snowy appearance of the beaten white is 
caused by the mixture of air and probably also 
by a slight evaporation of water, since it be- 
comes frothy sooner in a draught of air. The 
oil, which the yolk contains, makes it lighter 
than the white, as is shown by its position in 
the shell, and when the two parts are beaten 
together it acts like oil on troubled waters, 
making it impossible for the air to get in or 
for any water to pass off. 

Cold eggs beat quicker than those that have 
been in a warm place. A little salt, or cream 



BEATING EGGS. 147 

of tartar, either of which stiffen albumen, help 
the beating process. Beat slowly at first, but 
more rapidly at the end. 

For cakes and some omelets, the whites 
require to be beaten very dry even after suc- 
cessfully trying the old test of turning the bowl 
upside down. Yet there is such a thing as 
beating eggs too much. 

Yolks should be beaten till they become 
lighter colored and thicken. Never leave beaten 
eggs to stand, as all the air will escape. 

Beaten w r hites must be folded very carefully 
into the other ingredients after they are well 
mixed, and the dough baked at once. 

Beaten eggs are used to glaze pastry. Also 
for covering croquettes, etc., before frying, since 
the albumen, hardens quickly and the fats can- 
not then penetrate. If not beaten enough it will 
slip off, leaving bare patches ; if too much beaten 
it will be frothy and not adhere on that account. 

A spoonful of water or milk may be added to 
each egg for economy. For oysters, etc., sea- 
son the egg with salt and pepper; for sweet 
croquettes use a speck of sugar. 



148 EGGS IN CHINA. 



EGGS IN CHINA. 

Mr. Frank G. Carpenter, a recent traveler 
in China, says : 

The Chinese are very fond of eggs, but they 
never eat them soft-boiled, and they believe that 
an egg grows better with age. Preserved eggs 
are one of the dainties of China, and it takes 
forty days to pickle them. The eggs are cov- 
ered with a mixture of tea-leaves, lime, salt and 
wood-ashes, made into a paste, and are then 
packed away in wood-ashes, which all over China 
are sold to the egg-packers for this purpose. 
The older an egg grows after packing the better 
it is supposed to be. There are methods of 
pickling which turn the eggs as black as jet. 
In some cases they are steeped in water in which 
the leaves of fir or cedar-trees have been boiled. 
The Chinese also pickle eggs in salt water, and 
they regard these salted eggs as good for medi- 
cinal purposes. They have certain festivals at 
which they give presents of hard-boiled, dyed 



EGGS IN CHINA. 149 

eggs, and when a child is born the family and 
friends celebrate the event by a feast of dyed 
eggs. All told, the egg-industry of China 
gives employment to many thousand people, 
and forms one of the important specialties of 
this very busy nation. 



It is one of the triumphs of Chinese cookery 
to pierce and blow the eggs and re-fill them 
with vari-colored and vari-flavored custards and 
jellies. The apertures are sealed, and the out- 
side of the shells painted like a nightmare, with 
dragons, griffins, etc. 



JLBJL 



150 MISCELLANEOUS. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 

If raw yolks of eggs are put in a churn, just 
before the butter comes, their color will be im- 
parted to the butter. 

Shells burned in the oven and then placed on 
pantry shelves are said to repel vermin. 

Broken in bits, with cold water and a little 
soda, the shells, with their jagged edges, will 
clean glass bottles. 

Shells broken only Tit one end are convenient 
molds for blanc-mange and jellies. 

Old-time receipt books mention egg-shells as 
dishes to set in the ashes, in which to melt 
salves and ointments. 

One Swedish dish is an omelet of cheese, 
butter, milk and egg^ cooked in the dish in 
which it is to be served. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 151 

An Italian cook serves perfumed eggs where 
a faint but delicious flavor of violets, roses, etc., 
is imparted by rubbing the dish with the extract. 

" Stir them with steady hand and conscience 

pricking, 
To see the untimely end of ten fine chicken." 

" The egg is to *the kitchen what the articles 
are in discourse ; that is to say, a necessity so 
indispensable that the most skillful must re- 
nounce his art if the use of it was forbidden 
him." 

Almanack des Gourmands* — Paris, 1804. 

" The relation of a heir to a dozen fair, white, 
pure eggs, and the relation of those eggs to 
puddings and custards, and the twenty-five 
cents which they can have for the asking, make 
even an ungainly hen, like many heroines in 
novels, not beautiful but interesting." 

Gail Hamilton. 
A Prose Henriade, Atlantic Monthly, June, '65. 

" Where would be the piquant salads, golden 



152 MISCELLANEOUS. 

sponge cake, delicate custards and frozen creams 
and puddings and the thousand and one things 
we owe to the egg ? " 

H. W. Beecheh. 

Philadelphia, according to The Record, eats in 
the course of the year 200,000,000 eggs, of 
which seven eighths come from Iowa, Kansas, 
Minnesota and Nebraska, packed in refrigerator 
cars holding 144,000 each. 

In the ordinances of fares to be served to the 
King's Highness and the Queen's Grace as 
made at Eltham in the seventeenth year of King 
Henry VIII., butter and eggs appear in the 
second course on both Flesh and Fish Days. 
" The ordinary prices for all kinds of poultry 
stuff to be served by the aforesaid William 
Gurley " as decreed in these ordinances : " For 
eggs from Shrovetide till Michaelmas, the hun- 
dred, 14d. For eggs from Michaelmas till 
Shrovetide, the hundred, 20d." 



MISCELLANEOUS. 153 



THE STORK. 

A bird of great antiquity and dignity is the 
stork ; it was known to the writers of the 
Bible, and was a favorite with JEsop. 

It might well have been chosen as an Easter 
emblem ; for there is a Swedish legend that it 
fluttered around the cross of Christ, crying : 
" Styke, Styke, Strengthen ye, Strengthen ye," 
and thus it lost its voice and received its name. 

In Holland it is regarded with veneration, 
and happy is the house upon whose roof it 
makes the nest for its pale, yellow eggs. The 
Dutch name for the stork can be traced to an 
old word, meaning the bringer of good. 

THE HARE'S EGGS. 

" Hare, hare, good little hare, lay plenty of 
eggs for us on Easter Day," sing the German 
children. 

The reason for the popular idea that at 
Easter time the hare becomes an oviparous ani- 
mal seems, at first, almost unaccountable. 



154 MISCELLANEOUS. 

German authors, however, tell us that the 
hare, because of its fruitfulness, was sacred to 
Ostara, the goddess of spring and of love ; and 
that this explains the belief that Easter eggs 
were produced by hares rather than by hens. 

In the folk-lore of many savage tribes the 
hare is a type of the moon, since, because of its 
short upper eyelid, it always sleeps with its 
eyes open. 

The Aztecs saw a hare rather than a man in 
the moon. 

The Egyptians often represented Osiris as a 
beautiful hare. Hares may have drawn the 
chariot of Ostara as the cats drew that of 
Freya. 

Many Indian races worship the dawn as a 
mystical hare. The leaping hare was considered 
an emblem of spring-time or the approach of 
day, by nearly all races. 



INDEX. 



155 



INDEX. 



ABBOTT'S History, 122. 
Africa, 22, 98. 
Albatross eggs, 101. 
Albumen, 77-81. 
Alligator's eggs, 103. 
Almanach des Gourmands, 151. 
Amulets, 22. 
Analysis of eggs, 77, 78. 
Ants' eggs, 103. 
Antidote for poison, 84. 
Apteryx, 102. 
Arabian Nights, 39. 
Arbuthnot Dr., 94. 
Architecture, 8, 15. 
Ascension Day, 18. 
Atkinson, Edward, 55. 
Auk, great, 102. 
Aurora, 21. 
Avis, 7. 

BACCHUS, 16. 

Bacon, Francis, no. 
Bad eggs, 75-76. 
Baked eggs, 114. 
Bald head, 7. 
Beating eggs, 145-147. 
Beaumont and Fletcher, 17. 
Beecher, H. W,, 49, 151. 
Beggar's Bush, 47. 
Berlin, 59. 



Beurre Noir, 116. 

Bible, 39. 

Billings, Josh, 50. 

Bird's nests (edible), 103. 

Blessing eggs, 25. 

Boiled eggs, 105-109. 

Boiled eggs, hard, 107, T33. 

Bottled egg, A, 32. 

Borax, 68. 

Boston (Chamber of Commerce), 57, 

58. 
Brand's Antiquities, 24. 
Browne, Sir Thomas, 17. 
Bruet of egges, 94. 
Butter to color, 150. 
Burns and scalds, 87. 
Byron, 109. 

CESAR, 90. 

Carpenter, F. G., 148. 

Cascarone, 36. 

Castor oil, 84. 

Castor and Pollux, 14, 22, 34. 

Catholic Church, 21, 24. 

Cement, 74. 

Census, 54. 

Century Dictionary, 9. 

Chaucer, 8, 9T. 

Chamber's Journal, 10, n. 

Chemistry, 77. 



156 



INDEX. 



Chicago, 57. 

Chinese, 69, 74, 92, 104, 148. 

Clear soups, 120. 

Clarifying, 75, 82. 

Coffee, 82, 83. 

Columbus, 40. 

Commercial statistics, 54-63. 

Constantine, 20. 

Cotton seed lard, 116. 

Cowper, 48. 

Cradles (dolls), 29. 

Crem boy led, 93. 

Crocodile's eggs, 103. 

Custards, 141, 142. 

DAISIES, egg, 138. 
Dancing egg, 32. 
Date of Easter, 21. 
Decoration (or dyeing), 24-28. 
Dessicated eggs, 72. 
Dickens, Charles, 49. 
Dictionary, Century, 9. 
Digestion of eggs, 95. 
Digby, Sir Kenelm, 92, no. 
Douce MS., 92. 
Dropped eggs, 110-113. 
Druids, 22. 
Drummond, 98. 
Dryden, 41. 
Ducks' eggs, 101. 
Dudley, Thomas, 42. 
Duty on eggs, 56. 

EASTER, 20-37. 
Easter eggs, 22. 
Easter gifts, 29-31. 
Easter Island, 40, 41. 



Easter Monday dance, 52. 

Edward I., 25. 

Egg apples, 143. 

Egg balls, 121. 

Eggs in balls, 113. 

Egg baskets, 136. 

Egg broth, 141. 

Egg coffee, 141. 

Egg dumplings, 135. 

Egg kromeskys, 114. 

Egg milk, 141. 

Eggnog, 140. 

Egg nests, 115. 

Egg plant, 8. 

Egg shells, 

Eggs in art, 74-76. 

Eggs in manufacture, 74, 76. 

Eggs vs. pork, 96. 

Eggs Saturday, 24. 

Egyptian legends, 13-15. 

Elyot, SirT., no. 

Emerson, R. W., 48, 105. 

Emu, 74. 

England, 18, 56, 59, 69, 91. 

Engraving on eggs, 31. 

Eoestre, 21. 

Equinox, 16, 20. 

Ericsson, 96. 

Exhaustion, 139. 

Eyes inflamed, 86. 

FABLES, 40. 

Food (eggs as), 88. 
Food of hens, 100. 
Forme of Cury, 93. 
France, 27, 59, 75. 
French cooks, 89. 



INDEX. 



157 



Freshness, tests of, 64-140. 
Friday, Good, 18, 25. 
Fried eggs, 116. 
Froissart, 41. 
Fungi in eggs, 80. 

GAMES of eggs, 22, 34~37. 

Gebelin, Court de, 12. 

Gladstone, 59, 60. 

Golden Buck, 113. 

Good Friday, 18, 25. 

Great Britain egg supply, 58. 

Greece, 13, 16. 

Greeks, 22. 

Greek Church, 21, 23. 

HAIR dressing, 85. 
Hall, Bishop, 42. 
Halloween, 19. 
Hamilton, Gail, 151. 
Hard-boiled eggs, 107, 133. 
Hare's Eggs, The, 153. 
Harleian MSS., 92. 
Hawthorne, 49. 
Hebrews, 15, 19. 
Herbert, George, 48. 
Hercules, 14. 
Hindoos, 14. 

Historie du Calendrier, 12. 
Hoarseness, 86. 
Holbrook, Dr., 98. 
Holmes, O. W., 49, 50. 
Hood, 88, 121. 
Horace, 89, 100. 
Hottentot, 103. 
Hunter's Culina, 70. 
Hyde's Oriental sports, 34. 



IMPORTS, 55-56. 
Invalid cookery, 138. 
Insect bites, 85. 
Irving, Washington, 40. 
Isis, 15. 
Israel, 15. 
Italian, 157. 

JAPAN, 144. 
Java, 103. 
Jewish legends, 39. 
Jews, 15, 97. 
Jonson, Ben, 42. 
Jove, 14. 
Juvenal, 16,90. 

KAISER SOUP, 120. 

Kato, 144. 

King's Art of Cooking, 118. 
King Henry VIII., 152. 
Kitchener, Dr. Wm., 112. 
Kneph, 13. 

LENT, 23, 24, 93- 
Liebig, 99. 
Limed eggs, 67, 68. 
Lisbon, 31. 

Literature of eggs, 38. 
Livingston. 
Longevity, 95. 
LouisXIV.-XV.,2 7 . 
Love tests, 16, 19. 
Lowell, J. R.,48. 
Lyonnaise eggs, 137. 

MARRIAGE (of eggs), 52. 
Martial, 117. 
Massinger, 92. 



158 



INDEX. 



Massachusetts, 1885 census, 58. 

Medicine, 84. 

Mexico, 36. 

Miller, Warner, 55, 56. 

Moa, 102. 

Mongolians, 15. 

Moore, 89. 

More, Sir Thomas, 48. 

Mosques, 16. 

Mother Goose, 40. 

Munchausen, 39. 

Mundane egg, 12, 39. 

Murrey, T. J., 132. 

Mustard Plasters, 87. 

Mythology, 12. 

NAME, 7. 
Napoleon I., 122. 
National Association, 63. 
New York (city), 57. 
Nicene Council, 20. 
Noodles, 120. 
Nuremberg, 9. 
Nuremberg eggs, 135. 

OIL OF EGGS, 75,85. 

Omelets, 121-133. 

Orpheus, 13. 

Ostara, 21. 

Ostrich, 10 1. 

Overturned eggs, 115. 

Ovolo, 8. 

Ovum, 7. 

Oxford egg feast, 24. 

PACKING EGGS, 68. 
Paris, 28, 59, 90. 



Parliament, 90. 
Passover, 15, 20. 
Pavy, Dr., 78. 
Persians, 14. 
Philadelphia, 57, 152. 
Photographs, 51. 
Phthah, 13. 
Piers Ploughman, 116. 
Pliny, 39. 
Plover of egg, 101. 
Plutarch, 39. 
Poached egg, no, 113. 
Poland, 27. 
Pompeii, 90. 
Pope Alexander, 117. 
Pope Paul V., 25. 
Preservation, 67-73. 
Production, 62. 
Proverbs, 12, 46, 47. 

QUALITY, 100. 
Queer eggs, 103. 
Queer people, 33. 

RAMABAI, 98. 
Reade, Chas., 9. 
Ritual (Pope Paul V.), 25. 
Roasted eggs, 117. 
Roc's egg, 39. 
Romances, 51-52. 
Romans, 16, 22, 34, 89. 
Royale paste, 121. 
Rumbled eggs, 118. 
Russian Easter, 26, 27. 

SALVE, 85. 

Sandwiches, 137. 
San Francisco, 57. 






INDEX. 



159 



Savory custard, 121. 
Saxons, 2i, 35, 90. 
Scalloped egg, 136. 
Scot, Reginald, 18. 
Scotland, 18, 26. 
Scotch eggs, 135. 
Scrambled eggs, 118. 
Seabird's eggs, 101. 
Semiramis, 14. 
Shaker dish, 142. 
Shakespeare, 41-45, 91. 
Shape, 7. 

Shells, 17, 29, 74, 87, 150. 
Shirred egg, 114. 
Siam, 103. 

Simmonds, P. L., 62. 
Sling, 88. 
Smiles, 48. 

Smith, Dr. Edw., 107. 
Sorting (sizing), 61, 63. 
Soups, 119. 
Souffle, 122, 132. 
Soyer, 56. 
Spain, 36. 

Specific gravity, 60. 
St. Augustine, 23. 
Steamed eggs, 107. 
Stork, The, 153. 
Stowe, H. B., 48. 
Stuffed eggs, 134. 
Swan's eggs, 101. 
Sunburn, 86. 
Superstitions, 17-19. 
Sulphur, 78, 79. 
Swedish dish, 150. 
Swift, Dean, 109. 
Swiss eggs, 115. 



TEMPERATURE for hatching, 

Temperature for freezing, 80. 

Temperature for cooking, 81. 

Temple of Sais, 13. 

Tennyson, 8. 

Tests of freshness, 64-66. 

Thompson, Sir Henry, 122. 

Tolstoi, 49. 

Tredure, 93. 

Tribune (N. Y.), 55. 

Turkish proverbs, 46, 47. 

UTOPIA, 48. 

VALUE egg crop, 55. 
Varieties of birds, 9. 
Vegetarians, 97. 
Venus, 14. 
Vulcan, 13. 

WASHINGTON, D. C, 35. 

Watches, 9. 

Weight (average), 61, 62. 

Whipped eggs, 113. 

White of eggs, 74, 76, 138, 139. 

White House, 35. 

Whittier, 97. 

Wide Awake, 37. 

Williams, W. M., 106. 

Wright, Carrol D., 58. 

Writing on eggs, 29. 

YOLK, color, 100, 150. 
Yolk in arts, 74-76. 
Yolk for invalids, 138, 139. 
Yorkshire rarebit, 113. 

ZEALAND, NEW, 102. 



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